StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Continuation of Part One. I hope you enjoy the progression, and as always, feedback is welcomed, though constructive would be preferable.

As Kale looked off into the distance, he could see the first rays of the morning sun beginning to appear sleepily over the Eastern horizon, illuminating the scene below him. The once-bustling and safe town of Thorns had been changed so drastically in the space of one night.

The city was surrounded by thousands of red jade armor-clad soldiers of the Immaculate order, with specific groups of them performing various tasks: running patrols, sitting in guard at the entraces to the town; some were even relaxing around morning campfires, laughing about jokes each other told as they shaved their faces and filled their bellies. More importantly, it seemed that no patrols seemed headed this way, which meant that for now, he and his strange new companion were safe from immediate discovery.

Now that the sun's light was once again beginning to bathe the land with warm, bright light, he could look at this person more clearly. He had gently propped the figure against a tree in an upright sitting position carefully, minding the sharp and somewhat bloody weapons the figure had attached to its left hand, and clutched tightly, with inhuman strength in its right hand. The figure had lain still, though its helmet was twisted to the side on the figure's face, and hadn't moved much since he had grabbed this person. Whoever it was, it had resisted his strongest efforts to take off the claw, and remove the wicked-looking hooked scimitar from its right hand. Shrugging, he had let them be.

What had unsettled him the most was the armor this person wore. It seemed featureless and smooth when he was carrying this person from the fray of battle to this hopefully secluded place, but after he had set this person down, he noticed...little things. Tiny faces had appeared and disappeared in her armor in smooth waves of motion, moaning and making eerie noises in unison. The cries and noises were very faint, but just loud enough for his sharp ears to make out clearly. The faces had followed his movement, their eyeless faces facing him as he changed position. It was after this that he decided to simply let the figure be, and attempt to ignore the tiny noises eminating from the armor, with varying degrees of success.

As the sun began to came up, its soft, life-giving light had illuminated a large dent on the back of this person's helmet, which was now the obvious cause of the helmet getting twisted around. He looked carefully at the dent, and he was now a bit more surprised this person wasn't dead, from the impact which he had seen this figure make upon the hard rock of the canyon wall. The sickening crunching noise as this figure had hid the wall made Kale wince out of sympathy; he guessed there was now a permanent impression of this figure's body in the wallface.

He studied the figure more closely in the early rays of the morning sun. Completely encased in this strange, featureless black metal, it was impossible to tell much about the person encased within, other than whoever or whatever it was, it was tall, nearly as tall as he was, and Kale wasn't exactly a short man. He might not be a broad-chested giant, but he was pretty tall, and this figure was within a bare few inches of his height.

The armor itself was darkly beautiful, in a way, and obviously not made to be ornamental. It didn't have any un-necessary symbols, projections, or fancy bits for ornamentation, with the curious exception of the swept-back horns, stylized on the sides of the helmet, meeting one another and crossing like serpents looking in opposite directions in the back. The front of the helmet had a full facemask, hiding and protecting the face of whoever was still inside. The faceplate itself was also rather spartan, with a black metal mesh covering the eyes, and a large mask-like metal plate covering the nose and mouth. Well, where those parts would have been, had the helmet not been twisted around to the side.

This began to bother him a bit. If he were unconscious, he didn't think he'd be especially comfortable with his nose pressed into the side of a helmet, with no nearby spaces for air. He began to gently try to move the helmet into its proper position. He was surprised with the helmet's stubborn weight, as it barely moved an inch at a time. He didn't want to yank on it, as that might make matters worse with the person inside. Little by little though, he managed to coax the helmet to face the direction it was supposed to. He sat back, studying what he could see of the face hidden behind the black steel mesh covering the eyes. Well, whoever it was, it didn't look like a skeleton.

Melia had said that whoever this person was, it contained the Essence of her former husband. Melia also said that this figure was a woman, though how she could tell, he didn't know.

He noticed that the regular rise and falls of the woman's chest were becoming a little more labored. Surprisingly, this woman was having more trouble breathing with her helmet on straight than when it was twisted around to the side. Well, he could fix that as well. He gently began pulling on the helmet, but it didn't move even the tiniest part of a fingernail's length upwards. He checked all around the helmet, and noticed a cunningly-designed slot where the helmet would lock into the chestplate of the armor, allowing the user to swivel their head, but the helmet would stay on. He swivelled the helmet around as gently as he could, given its stubborn weight until he saw a tab on the back of the helmet, sticking through the slot on the back of the armor. He gently pulled upwards, and it unlocked, allowing him to remove the helmet.

What he expected was to see a bony face, with few scraps of flesh stuck to her dessicated face. He expected to see what amounted to a human skeleton with eyes, and mummified skin stretched tightly over the bones of her face. He didn't expect her to look as she did.

Long, sinuously flowing black hair crowned a pale face; the kind of pale he'd expect to see from someone who hadn't seen the sun in a very long time, but it wasn't the kind of pale you'd see on a corpse. Her lips were painted black, and were the only things painted on her beautiful face. Her face seemed soft, even gentle as she slept, her long black eyelashes fluttering slightly over closed eyes as she dreamed. She clenched her jaw and released it as she dreamed, and Kale could see that underneath this beautiful exterior was someone in very good shape. If the armor over her form was any indication, she had a tall and slender build, which seemed to suit the way he had seen her fight; the way she moved reminded him of a dancer he had seen in Thorns a few times.

He gently leaned her back up against the tree, and arranged a shade of his blanket to block the light from hitting her face, reasoning that she could use all the sleep she could get. After he had done so, he looked again at Thorns, losing himself in thought somewhat. The thought of "What the hell did I just do?" crossed his mind. At Melia's urging, he had saved her from a certain and painful death at the hands of the Immaculate Order soldiers. On the other hand, this hauntingly beautiful, and peaceful-looking woman had commanded an army of undead...things, and had slain many of the Immaculates herself, with flowing, graceful, and almost sensuous ease. He had watched her spin, duck, weave, slash, and rake through their ranks in an unbroken dance, the very shadows themselves seeming to alternately cloak her, and make her look terrifying in the evening light. If the old adage was true, and that it becomes obvious to an onlooker whenever you engage in doing something you truly love, then she took pride in and loved killing. That sent a cold shiver up his spine.

He pulled out a few strips of dried meat from his satchel and begin eating as he crouched next to the tree, still deep in thought. Melia had essentially asked him to save the life of someone he didn't know; someone who had tried killing him with archers, someone who had slain quite a few people with nearly contemptable ease, barring her little mishap with that giant mace the back of her head had been introduced to. He hoped idly she woke up in a fairly good mood.

About mid-morning, he checked on her again, and adjusted the blanket he was using to block the sun from touching her sleeping figure. The rise and fall of her chest was gentle, slow and regular. Her hand clenched and unclenched slightly against the bone bandle of her sword. The realization that her being armed, in an unfamiliar place, near someone she didn't know was probably not a good idea, and decided to check her weapons once more, to see if she could be relieved of them. He didn't want to be on the receiving end of them. By his estimate, he could move roughly as fast as she could, but he'd rather not test the theory unless necessary. There was no sense in tempting fate, he thought.

The scimitar slid out of her relaxed fingers as he gently pulled. He was surprised at the weight of the blade. It was balanced properly, but seemed overly heavy to be truly useful in combat. What puzzled him a bit more was the flowing way he had seen her wield it, which suggested that in her capable hands, it was lighter. He blinked as he made the connection.

She was an Abyssal, Melia had said. That suggested the black metal that comprised her armor and weapons was soulsteel, which also suggested, if his own new weapons were of any hint, that they were attuned to her, just as his sword, bow, and bracer were attuned to him specifically. He remembered just how heavy they had been before he had coaxed them into attuning themselves to him, feeding them little bits of essence until they aquiesced. After they had done so, they seemed just as impossibly light as they had been impossibly heavy just moments before. Since these were her weapons, that suggested that they were indeed preternaturally light, in her hands only.

Even so, he undid the clasps and ties that attached her claw to her left gauntlet as well, removing it and placing it on the ground, next to her scimitar. In the interest of properly treating a weapon, he decided to remove the sheath she had at her left side, custom-made for her sword. After sheathing the heavy sword, he placed both claw and sword in the tree above in such a way that they were unlikely to be dislodged or fall. Part of him felt a little bad at disarming her like this, but on the other hand, facing an armed woman who enjoyed killing as much as she seemed to wasn't something he had planned on doing today.

She seemed to sleep on, oblivious to him relieving her of her weapons. He guessed by the head wound she had in the back of her head, and the healthy bump she had on her crown, she would be sleeping for a while longer as her body healed. He decided that sleeping was a good idea, as he had been up now for over thirty-six hours. He might not need to sleep as much, but he still felt tired, and more than a little mentally and physically exhausted due to the events of the past day and a half. He swiftly and quietly climbed into the upper reaches of the tree, making sure that the trees nearby in this serene cherry-blossom grove were near enough to leap to, if things got ugly. Satisfied that they were, he adjusted his body to a more comfortable position, amongst the branches of the overgrown and wild cherry tree, and closed his eyes as he drifted off to sleep, using his satchel as a pillow against the broad branch of the tree.

When he awoke later, he couldn't at first figure out what had awakened him. He was still a little tired, but awake enough to sharpen his hearing as he tried to find out what was happening. It was late evening now, the sun having set roughly an hour before. Then, he heard it: she was beginning to wake up as well. He carefully and quietly adjusted his position to look down through the maze of branches to where she lay against the tree, down below on the ground. He saw her removing her gauntlets, and begin to gently probe her head for injury with pale-skinned hands. He focused his eyesight more clearly, and saw that her hands had some small scars, and could see callouses on her palms, probably from all the fighting she did. Her fingernails weren't especially long, but they weren't short either; their length ended pretty uniformly slightly beyond her fingertips.

As she was checking herself over for injury, he could see that she was checking out her surroundings as well, looking slightly puzzled at first. He silenced a chuckle. He guessed that she thought she would awaken surrounded by Immaculate guards, and not resting against a tree, with limbs still free. Though as he watched her, she was predictably concerned with her mysterious lack of weaponry.

She tucked her legs close to her body, and rose slowly into a crouch, looking around more closely and thoroughly, even looking up briefly into the tree where he hid silently, though didn't see him. She looked into the other cherry trees in the grove, and around on the plains once more. She seemed satisfied, so looked out to Thorns, in the distance, studying the sight. He couldn't see her expression, though heard her take a deep breath as she looked at the masses of Immaculate troops surrounding Thorns on all sides, their red jade advertising that the wearers had the blood of dragons within their veins. He was momentarily surprised as he looked at Thorns as well, from his perch high up in the tree. It seemed that the mortals, with their more bland steel armor were in rare evidence now; he saw only a few scattered amongst the seething mass of the Dragon-Blooded warriors, and usually performing menial tasks.

He saw as well as heard her rise into a standing position, and began to stretch. He heard several bones and joints popping in her neck, arms, back, and legs as she did so. Kale could have sworn he heard a very faint crooning purr of pleasure from her as she did so.

She turned around, looking into the grove of cherry trees, her eyes flicking in all directions as she studied her surroundings with more scrutiny. He saw that she had cool ice-blue eyes, which oddly enough seemed to fit her perfectly. Her expression was neutral and calm, though she moved with the grace of a natural predator. The way she slowly stalked around the tree as she was studying her surroundings reminded him of watching a mountain lionness searching for prey.

About ten yards from the tree he rested in, she stopped, and spoke in a calm voice that rang with a tone of authority; the voice of one who was used to being obeyed. Her voice had an even cadenced monotone, with a subtle undercurrent of menace.

"I know not who you are, but I know that you have my weapons, and I demand their return. Now."

As she regained consciousness, Rosethorne couldn't figure out at first what had happened. The last thing she remembered was hitting solid rock with sickening force, knocking the wind out of her, and making her see black spots in her vision. She remembered in hazy glimpses of memory being carried over someone's shoulder, but nothing after that.

The day had drawn to a close, though it seemed a bit lighter than she remembered it being. This told her that some time had passed, perhaps a day or so. The cool evening breeze blowing gently, caressing her pale face made her realize that her helmet was off, though the rest of her was still armored. She looked around, and right after she noticed that she was sitting upright, with her armored back against a large tree with small, delicate pink flowers, she realized with a shock that her weapons were gone.

Her eyes narrowed slightly at the realization. Someone had evidently brought her here, and though whoever this person was had made her comfortable, and even put up a blanket to block out the light of the day before, this person had taken her weapons. She felt nearly naked without them, and resisted the urge to look around wildly, as her first impulse told her to do.

Instead, she looked at her helmet, sitting at her side. It had been dented heavily in the back, her eyes picking out marks on the helmet showing which side of the helmet had hit the barely-yielding stone of the canyon wall, with consciousness-stealing force.

She removed her gauntlets almost automatically as she was looking at her helmet, thinking that this was now the second time in her life that she had received a nasty head wound. She began to probe the back of her head, feeling mostly dried and some still slightly sticky blood in the place where the large mace had struck. She felt all around her head for other injuries, and other than feeling a few minor bumps, she was fine. Her body had evidently healed most of the damage as she slept, which pleased her.

She folded her legs close to her chest, as she somewhat unsteadily got to her feet, her reflexes allowing her to do this with grace. She didn't see, smell, or hear anything immediately near her, so relaxed slightly. Whoever this person was hadn't made themselves known yet, so she assumed for the moment that she was alone.

She stretched, feeling the pleasant sensation of her joints stretching into wakefulness. It felt as if she'd been asleep for quite a long time, since there were more popping noises coming from her back and limbs than she expected. However, it made her feel ever so much better. Believing she was, for the moment, alone, she allowed a small croon of pleasure to escape her lips, as the joints in her hands stretched and cracked.

As she did so, she began thinking methodically about her situation now, as she knew it. She didn't know where she was, as this grove of blossoming trees were an unfamiliar sight. Whoever had captured her had done so after she lost consciousness, and had taken her weapons, though allowed her to sleep peacefully and uninterrupted. This person, or persons had also removed her helmet, though whether because it was to help her breathe or because they wanted to look at her face, she didn't have enough evidence to guess. The rest of her armor was untouched, suggesting that whoever did this hadn't tried to remove it. Her arms and legs were unbound and free, which seemed to nearly be a contradiction to the evidence she had so far.

She looked around more thoroughly, scanning her surroundings for more evidence as to what had happened. She looked up into the tree she had been lying against, but saw nothing there. Her ice-blue eyes meticulously scanned the grove of trees, but didn't see anything. Her ears told her nothing as well, the only sounds being her own breathing. She walked around for a bit, checking out her surroundings more thoroughly for any sign of something suspicious. She admitted that this was a bit difficult, as she didn't know what she was looking for.

Her patience began to thin as she walked around the trees for a short distance. She didn't know why, but some instinct told her that whoever did this was still around here, close by. She listened and looked a little more for further evidence to backup her intuition, but found none, and began to grow impatient. She decided to get their attention, and spoke to the night air, making the first move.

"I know not who you are, but I know that you have my weapons, and I demand their return. Now."

She listened and looked around for a reply, but heard none for a few seconds. When she had begun growing used to the idea that there was nobody around, she heard a reply, the voice seemed to echo softly from the trees in front of her.

"I'd rather keep them until I know you're willing to act civilly, but good evening to you as well. Did you have a restful sleep?"

She walked a few steps away from the tree she had been lying against, closer to the other trees in the grove, looking and listening for further sign as to exactly where this hidden voice was speaking from. It was a male voice, speaking with a hint of amusement. She wondered where his friends were.

"I refuse to speak with a disembodied voice. Come down where I can see you."

He heard a chuckle, several trees away from where she last heard the voice, but had heard no sounds of movement. She thought at first that it was one of his friends, until the voice spoke from directly behind her.

"Alright."

She whirled around, and looked at him through narrowed eyes. He was unarmored, and wearing simple, though well-made travellers' clothes, consisting of a long, dark forest green jacket that reached his knees and extended a bit over his wrists, dark brown loose-fitting pants the color of dark, healthy soil, and a shirt of a slightly lighter forest green than his jacket. She noticed leather straps across his shoulders, with the side of a blue jade bow over his left shoulder. Alright, this was one of them, then.

"Where are your friends?"

His right eyebrow quirked upwards a little, before dropping, his face moving into an amused smile. "Oh, knowing how to throw your voice comes in handy sometimes. That was all me."

Her eyes narrowed further at him. Just who did he think was fooling? "You want to speak with me, and yet you lie to me within the first five minutes? For the sake of your continued well-being, consider it a good thing you stole my weapons."

His smile disappeared, a calm look on his face. "I swear on the memory of my parents that the only voice you heard belonged to me, and that you and I are, for the present, alone here, and that I mean you no harm unless you mean to harm me."

Rosethorne studied him more carefully. He, like her, had a slender build, though was slightly taller than she was, but a bare few inches, she guessed. He had dark brown eyes that studied her as she was studying him, his eyes matching the color of his pants, only slightly darker. His light brown hair seemed to be a stranger to a brush, as it stuck out in unruly random angles all over his head. He was somewhat handsome, if a bit rugged looking. The corners of his mouth seemed to be slightly quirked upwards. She finished studying him as her senses told her that he was telling the truth, to the best of his knowledge. He seemed to be waiting for her patiently, and calmly. After making him wait about five minutes to test his patience, and seeing him continue standing still and motionless, she did so.

"Speak, then. Who are you, and what was in it for you to save my life?"

The right corner of his mouth quirked a little more upwards, the beginnings of a smile on his face. "I'll answer you fully, completely and truthfully, if you agree to do the same."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Very well. Answer my questions, and I'll answer yours."

He nodded to her, the quirk on the right side of his mouth disappearing, for the present. "Fair enough. My name is Kale, and you wouldn't believe why I saved you even if I told you. What I can say is that I am no ally of the Immaculates you were fighting before, and given how you tried having me shot earlier, I shouldn't be helping you either. And yet, here I am."

She took a subtle deep breath. She thought he looked a little familiar. This was that snot-nosed whelp who had both shot down many of her would-be ambushing force, and cut half of them down by himself, before getting hit by one of her archer's arrows. She glanced to his left side, where she knew he had been shot, and saw that there wasn't much blood there where the arrow had struck, and no arrow, either.

He had more or less refused to tell her his motivations for saving her life, though claimed to not be allied to the Immaculates. He had volunteered this information either to reassure her, or more likely, to make her believe it. However, he hadn't done anything to overtly reassure or attempt intimidating her yet, so perhaps he was being just as cautious as she. So, that would make it his turn.

"Ask your question, and don't waste my time."

He tilted his head to the side slightly, as if to look at her from a different angle. Unlike most men she'd met however, his gaze remained locked on her eyes. He seemed to reach a decision, and spoke up.

"What is your name, and why were you attacking Thorns?"

She stifled the smile that threatened to steal across her face. This young one knew nothing of what happened, other than the effects. So foolish, and impetuous, especially in asking for her name. Well, that just would have to serve as a reminder to slay him later for knowing her name.

"My name is Rosethorne, Huntress Clad in the Raiment of Shadow. I attacked Thorns because it was my Lord's wish that all life be exsanguinated within and without the town."

She saw with a small sense of satisfaction that his eyebrows quirked upward slightly as he heard her full name being spoken. Why was she feeling so calm around this strange man, who evidently had never seen or heard of a hairbrush? His reply, however, instantly put her on her guard.

"So you work for the Mask of Winters, then?"

The look on his face as he asked reminded her of a shadow passing over his face, the way his expression darkened. He evidently had a personal problem with her Lord, but what was of more concern was that he knew her Lord's name, which to her knowledge was unknown on the surface lands. She narrowed her eyes at him once more, her body tense and yet relaxed, ready to fight.

"How did you know his name? Speak!"

The essence she channeled into her words was part of a rote she used to quell rebellion and force her soldiers to look up to her. On this man, it was to compel his obedience, though his expression and body language didn't change. She saw his eyebrow quirk upwards slightly, though he answered anyway.

"How I know his name and why I rescued you stem from the same cause, and you wouldn't believe it," he answered flatly, as if expecting her to let the matter drop. However, he was sorely mistaken if he believed that. She willed herself to keep her temper and not dismember him where he stood, perhaps beating him into unconsciousness with one of his own limbs once she was done.

"If you expect me to give you complete answers, you must do the same. Angering me would be unhealthy, he who calls himself Kale."

His eyebrow quirked a little higher with that remark, though his facial expression didn't change much; evidently, he was guarding his emotions just as she was.

"I'll tell you if you answer one more question. Are you an Abyssal?"

Oh, he had some nerve, and some knowledge as well. She began to suspect, given his evident knowledge in addition to other things she knew about him already, such as an arrow in his side healing completely and without permanent injury, that he was not a mere mortal.

"Clarify your rather vague earlier statements of the parts you don't think I'll believe, and I'll consider telling you," she told him flatly.

He shrugged as he looked at her. "From the way you didn't look surprised that I knew of your kind, but rather surprised that I was able to spot you as one, that's all the answer I wanted. However, I will clarify for you."

He stepped back a pace, which she reacted to by taking one step back and facing him sideways in the Owl Spots Prey stance, but the only thing he did was look at her softly. A golden circle appeared on his forehead, and glowed softly for a few moments, before disappearing just as quietly as it had appeared. "First off, I'm a Child of the Sun."

She studied his mark before it disappeared, with no evidence remaining that it had shone just a few moments before. It was of the same shape as she had seen on the Day Caste Deathknight, Noro, though this man's Mark didn't blacken and bleed upon his forehead. Given the evidence, he must be of the Night Caste, the Solar opposite of Noro. However, that didn't explain why he rescued her, and didn't explain how he knew her Lord's name. It did explain why he attacked her troops, however.

She decided to match him, the skin on her forehead blackening as if burnt in the form of a circle with twelve equally black and burnt-looking spokes surrounding it evenly. She felt the shadows around her begin to notice her silent command, and began lengthening and darkening around her form as she gazed into his eyes. She smiled inwardly. "You didn't answer my question, Child of the Sun."

She saw him roll his eyes and shake his head slightly, though he appeared unimpressed by her mark or the shadows around her. "I hate being called that," he replied with a slight frown, as he began walking toward the other trees. She was about to shout out a command to stay where he was, when she saw that he was merely finding a comfortable place to pace back and forth. His reaction told her that he wasn't used to being what he was yet. He was essentially a newborn Exalt, and that would make her job immeasurably easier. However, given his reactions to her so far, he wasn't intimidated by her. Well, she would see what his reaction was once she had her weapons back.

He stopped pacing, and faced her once more, and looked as if he were about to speak, when he turned his head swiftly to the side, as if seeing into the distance, a look of concentration on his face. She was about to ask him what he had seen or heard, when she heard armor-clad footsteps coming toward the grove of blossoming trees. Her estimate from the sound was that it was a small patrol, perhaps four or five soldiers strong. Excellent, she could do with a little exercise, and something to quell her hunger as well.

He spoke up to confirm her suspicions without turning away from the noise. "I'll have to tell you later. It looks like we're about to have company. Five Dragon-Blooded, full armor, in standard infantry armament are coming this way." He turned to look at her. "We have enough time to conceal our presences from their notice."

She raised an eyebrow of her own as she looked at him. "If you mean to conceal your fear and intent to run with flowery words, you're a coward. Let them come." She looked in the direction they were coming from seeing the slightly surprised and amused look on his face, and licked her lips as she felt her canine teeth growing, sharpening, and lengthening. "I require sustainance."

Kale had to hide a laugh. This woman was nuts. He watched her, as she stalked back to the tree she had been sleeping under, not averting her eyes to where the Immaculate soldiers would emerge, and began to put her gauntlets back on. She left her helmet lay where it was, however.

She walked back to her original position, her eyes not leaving the direction that the Immaculate soldiers would emerge from.

Was it his imagination, or did her canine teeth get longer as she was making her announcement about "requiring sustenance?" Though there was no real expression of emotion on her face, her body language spoke volumes. She most certainly wasn't planning on running. He saw her now-mailed hands clench and unclench slowly once at her sides, from the anticipation, he supposed.

She certainly wasn't acting the way he normally would expect someone who had no weapons to act toward the impending arrival of five Immaculate soldiers, who were probably quite edgy from doing a patrol this time of night.

As Kale looked in the same direction, he decided not to draw his sword or nock an arrow to the bow over his shoulder. If things went bad, he'd do so then, but he decided not to invite trouble quite yet. He just hoped none of them recognized the clothes he wore from yesterday, when he had helped their back line against this woman's ambush. For which he received not even a shred of thanks: if anything, he felt insulted by their uniformly hateful response, and began to understand Melia's sense of pure irritation at them.

The soldiers crested the hill leading up to the overgrown cherry tree grove, moving at a brisk marching pace. He glanced briefly sidelong at the Abyssal, who hadn't moved from her position, remaining as still as a statue. There was no expression on her face, though her eyebrows were slightly narrowed, her gauntleted hands still hanging loosely at her sides. He just hoped this woman didn't try doing anything rash. Just to help matters, he closed his eyes as he channeled the essence within him in a rote Melia had taught him. It was supposed to create an air of "normality" around him, making anything he or anyone he focused it on, like Rosethorne, appear much less suspicious. He figured it couldn't hurt.

The soldiers spotted them and came to a halt about ten yards from them. Without an order being spoken, they began to fan out around the pair, but hadn't drawn their weapons yet. The one in the middle hailed them. "What are you doing around this area, at this time of night? State your business!"

Kale saw the woman's body tense and relax at the words from the soldier who appeared to be in charge. He decided to act now, before she did, as he knew what her course of action would most likely be. "Good evening! My lady friend and I were attempting to speak uninterrupted. Why, is something wrong?"

Out of the corner of his left eye, he saw her turn her head toward him slowly, and fix him with a blank look. He pretended not to notice for the moment.

The soldier was peering intently at both of them before giving a reply. "That lady there looks awful familiar. Where've you been all day, madam?"

Kale spoke up again, earning another look from his companion. Her expression remained that of a statue as she looked at him, but he could tell that this was by no means how she was expecting this to happen. "She's been sleeping near me all day. Is there a problem?"

The soldier nodded, looking at each of them in turn, from Kale's expression of slightly insulted gentleman's calm, and hers of expressionless, though tangible irritation. "Well, be careful, then. There might be an escaped Anathema or two near here. Don't mean to alarm you two, especially this time of night, but they tried unsuccessfully to attack a full Talon of soldiers from the Immaculate Order. We chased them off, though they may try taking their revenge against innocent bystanders like yourselves."

Kale groaned inwardly as he saw a very brief flicker of irritation cross her normally expressionless face out of the corner of his eye. He did his best to keep calm as he heard her speak up, in a low, clipped monotone that nonetheless carried clearly to everyone nearby. "That's not what happened."

The soldier looked at her, at first a little surprised, but then suspicious. "Do you question the word of the Dragon-Touched?"

Kale saw that she looked utterly relaxed, for once. Somehow, he didn't think this meant that she intended to be reasonable. She spoke up again, in the same voice, this time with a hint of menace behind her words. "I do when they lie to preserve their precious self-perception."

The soldier looked shocked again, and then slightly annoyed. "Corporal Kamir, Corporal Isec, bind her limbs, and bring her back for questioning."

Kale saw her hands clench and unclench slowly, her expression unchanged. "Touch me, and forfeit your life."

Oh, hell. What was she trying to do, pick a fight with them? With a sinking feeling, he knew that she was. On the other hand, she did keep silent until the soldier in charge started spewing propaganda. He guessed that she considered those comments a slight upon her honor, though he'd have to watch her further to see if she indeed had any sense of honor.

He saw the head soldier nod to the two men, who walked forward purposefully, with blades drawn. "Come quietly lady, and there won't be any trouble."

She simply eyed them without moving. One of them stayed within a yard of her, blade drawn; the other reached out to grab her left wrist with his right hand, his left still holding his sword. The instant his hand touched her wrist, she exploded into motion. Her hand moved from beneath his to clasp his wrist and twist his arm painfully, right before she spun through his guard and elbowed him across the face with her other mailed arm.

The other guard began moving toward her as he saw this. In the space of what seemed to be the blink of an eye, her left hand grabbed Corporal Isec's wrist that held his sword tightly and twisted it back, followed swiftly by another elbow in the face with her other arm. Continuing this motion, she brought her arm down and elbowed the top of his shoulder as well, forcing him to momentarily lose his hold on his blade.

His blade dropped a bare inch before it fell into the outstretched palm of her left hand, which tightly grabbed the hilt of the sword. She brought it back, and slashed through his neck, his helmeted head falling to the ground.

The other soldier slashed down at her, trying to hit her where her neck met the breastplate of her armor. She was following through with her earlier momentum, stepped lightly to the side while bringing her stolen blade behind his, forcing it to the ground. She spun around and kicked him in the back of the head, and continuing this spinning motion, beheaded him as well, grabbing his blade with her other hand before it fell from his lifeless fingers.

She eyed the rest of them for a moment, and licked the blood carefully from each side of each blade she had taken from their compatriots.

Kale was attempting to not look at her with utter shock. He could tell the blades were heavy for her, as they were the special jade swords forged specifically for these Immaculate troops. Being that these swords were unattuned to her, they were heavier in her hands, though they certainly didn't seem to be slowing her down much.

The lead soldier shook off his utter surprise, and yelled out his orders. "Slay her! She dares to strike the sacred flesh of the Dragon-Touched!"

All of them noticed the night growing steadily darker around them, until it was a nearly impenetrable gloom. Her voice seemed to echo from within the darkness, with the same even-cadenced monotone as before. "Pray to whomever you worship for wisdom in your next lifetime."

Kale could see in the darkness, one of the tricks of essence Melia taught him serving him well in this moment. His eyes peered through the gloom, and saw her facing the three soldiers, who were wildly looking around them, unsure of what to do. They walked until they were all three facing back to back from a distance of about a yard apart, their animas flaring into view, trying vainly to light up the preternatural darkness that seemed to nearly suffocate them. He could swear he saw a bare hint of a wintry smile on her face as she looked at them. And her eyes...

Her eyes were no longer her usual ice-blue. They were glowing now, her irises moving, swirling, seeming to boil as they shone softly. He decided to stay right where he was, let her finish, and then ask her what she thought she was doing.

She moved around them silently, stopping before the soldier who appeared to be in charge. "You were the one who insulted my honor, so you shall take the longest in greeting death."

At her words, he stiffened, his anima brightening as he tried to see into the gloom all around him and failing. She lashed out with two swift and savage strikes, one severing the chain holding up his codpiece, the second disemboweling him. He collapsed to the ground, moaning in pain.

She then spoke to the two still standing, one of which was shaking slightly. "Attack me now, and receive a soldier's death."

One of them seemed to take a deep breath, his Wood-Aspected swirling green anima brightening in vain to help him see more clearly. He yelled wildly, and ran at where he last heard her voice. She simply waited for him to pass her in the gloom, and beheaded him as he went by.

She turned her attention on the last soldier standing, who was shaking slightly. She dropped her stolen weapons as she moved over to see his face properly. She walked up to him with long strides, embraced him tightly, and bit into his neck.

Kale didn't hide the look of disgust on his face, as he heard the soldier's gurgling pleas and her quiet slurping noises. He dropped in a heap at her feet when she was done, and she beheaded him with his own weapon at the place on his neck where her fangs had marked him. She then turned her attention on the still moaning soldier on the ground, before yanking him unceremoniously to his feet, and sinking her fangs into his neck as well.

The gloom began to lift as she dropped him onto his knees. He swayed slightly from so much blood loss, his skin nearly as pale as hers. She crouched down to face him once more. "I have seen you fit to be my prey, and my prey you have become."

She beheaded him in the same way as she had the last soldier, in the same place on his neck. She dropped his sword, and took off her left gauntlet, holding it in the crook of her armpit. She turned to face Kale, delicately wiping the remaining traces of blood from her face with her now unmailed hand. "Now, as you were saying, before we were so rudely interrupted?"

Kale couldn't help but ask. "Why do you leave them all their weapons?"

She quirked an eyebrow at him as she delicately wiped a small blot of blood from her nose. "Because when those soldiers don't report back, a much larger patrol will be along to check on them. Leaving them how they are will confuse those who would find this scene in the morning."

He blinked. He was fully expecting her to gloat about how she had weapons now, but had nonchalantly left them behind. He shrugged, and walked over to each soldier in turn, clasping their swords in the owners' proper hands. He stood up and dusted off his hands, surveying his work, before turning back to face her once more. "That was disgusting, you know. Can't you eat normal food?"

She arched her eyebrow at him again slightly. "If you consider my feeding to be disgusting, then don't torture yourself by watching."

Oh, being catty, was she? He crossed his arms as he looked her in the eyes. "I'll grant you that - it was almost torture to see you get introduced to the wrong ends of both mace and canyon wall."

She narrowed her eyes at him before walking over to two soldiers, and relieving them of their blades once again before facing Kale once more. "You pick on the weakest parts of my army, get shot by a skeleton archer that cannot aim more specifically than general targets, and now you seek to give me pointers on fighting?"

She began walking toward him, coming to a stop and flowing into a combat stance about three yards away from where he stood. "Then by all means, come try to fell me!"

He looked at her. He knew that her strikes were not up to her usual speed, due to the heavy weapons in her hands not being attuned to her - were they attuned, they'd be as light as wooden dowels in her hands. He shrugged, and pulled his blade from its sheath, and resting it on his shoulder. "Alright, but you asked for it."

She merely stared at him, unmoving, giving no answer.

He moved his right foot back, putting his left side toward her calmly, but warily. He had now seen up close just how fast and how brutally strong this woman was. As fast as he knew he was, even with that strange gem in his bracer that seemed to make his movements twice as fast, he didn't know how this would end up.

They stood in silence, facing one another, waiting - daring, even - for the other to make the first move. Kale was staring her directly in the eyes, just as she was meeting his gaze, unblinking. Five minutes passed before one of them made a movement.

Rosethorne lunged at him like a hungry wolf. Kale seemed to melt out of the way like a shadow, darting behind her, swinging his sword with the unsharpened edge at the backs of her knees. She fell heavily on her back, unable to right herself in time.

He smiled as he took a step back. "You fell."

She leapt to her feet, glaring at him. He saw her eyes once again begin shining with luminescence, the irises of her eyes beginning once again to churn and swirl. Her Caste Mark appeared on her forehead as if someone had burned it there, and sheets of blue fire began to dance with the now animated shadows around her. The blades in her hands began to glow briefly with a bluish grey before fading away once more. He knew she had just attuned the weapons to herself. The Abyssal's voice seemed to echo, with a strong undercurrent of pure malice behind her usual toneless cadence. "You struck me like a coward, and now you shall pay the price."

That look in her eyes didn't look encouraging at all. Kale decided that right now, discretion was the better part of valor, and took off running, sheathing his sword as he ran. He heard the light footsteps behind him, telling him that she was in hot pursuit. He ran beyond the edges of the grove, seeing a small forest with some old and very tall trees ahead. He sprinted toward one, and nearly ran up the side of the tree into the canopy above, the branches now hiding him from view. He saw her stop at the foot of the tree and look up a bare second after he had gained his perch, her eyes still glowing and churning eerily. "Don't think you can escape me after that sort of an insult."

Kale grinned at her through the branches. "You told me to make you fall, and you fell. I'm failing to see the problem."

She glared at him a bit more now. "Nothing prevents me from chasing you up that tree and slaying you."

He nocked an arrow, still smirking. "Yeah, nothing except maybe an arrow in your eye."

The corners of her mouth rose upward slightly as she gazed at where his voice was coming from, and sat down cross-legged without averting her gaze in the least. "Then I'll simply wait for you to come down. You can't stay up there forever."

Unbeknownst to her, he had shouldered his bow and begun climbing upwards already, before leaping lightly to the tree a few yards away, landing on the branch with the barest whisper of movement. He threw his voice to appear as if it were coming from the tree's branches he'd so recently vacated. "You sure about that? I was raised in a forest, you know."

She continued gazing upward into the tree he'd left. "I can wait an eternity, Kale."

He chuckled quietly to himself, his eyes scanning the ground below him without even thinking about it now. He saw the brightening on the Eastern horizon, foretelling the sun's coming soon. He saw movement, and looked sharply at it, seeing at least sixty red jade armored Immaculate Order soldiers marching toward the grove.

He didn't throw his voice this time, but spoke to her in a low, urgent voice. "Rosethorne, you might want to consider giving those weapons back to their owners, and climbing up that tree."

He saw the corners of her mouth move upwards slightly again, in a hint of a smile. "So anxious to face me without weapons?"

She's witty, he had to give her that. "No, but it looks like that patrol you talked about is arriving a bit earlier than you previously thought."

She glared in the direction she now heard his voice coming from. "If you're lying about this, I'm going to consider you my prey."

He rolled his eyes briefly in annoyance. "Great. Put the weapons back, find a tree to climb, and then see if I'm a liar."

With one last baleful glance, she darted back to the bodies of the Dragon-Blooded soldiers, now beginning to attract flies. She closed her eyes as she released her essence from the weapons, and then placed them back into the hands of their former owners. Satisfied, she darted back to the tree Kale had first climbed, and began moving up the tree with difficulty. It took her a few minutes to get to a proper height, which made Kale rather impatient, though he didn't say anything.

He saw her through the branches climbing up to a more or less servicable perch, and peer down below, in the distance, seeing the force marching in three perfect red jade lines up into the grove. She turned in the direction she had last heard his voice, seeing him almost completely hidden in the shadows of the tree. "Don't think for a moment that I've forgotten your insult."

He looked at the approaching force below. "Fine. After they leave, we'll have another talk."

The Immaculate troops made the ground shudder as they marched in unison up the slightly narrow path to the grove. All the soldiers were looking wary, on the lookout for anything suspicious. There was not a single ordinary mortal among them, as they had to expect the worst. All their animas were fully active, forcing them to march a few feet apart from one another. The three marching lines illuminated the still-dark land around them in a riot of color; green the color of leaves mixing with sky blue, the reddish-orange of hungry flames, earthy brown, and flowing water-like blue.

Rosethorne watched the procession with a detatched air. Her hands clenched as she clung to the tree, her armored fingers digging into the bark audibly, earning her a glare from the Solar one tree over from her. The questions of why he had saved her life, and was helping her now remained unanswered. However, her own honor would not allow her to give in and slay him; not before she repaid the life debt she owed him. She had mixed feelings about this. Rosethorne felt a seething cold anger at being indebted to another for her life, as he had prevented her from having a true warrior's fate on the battlefield. Not only that, but his interference on the battlefield two days ago had cut down her ambushing force; had that force been allowed to attack the Immaculate army as she had planned, then she could have had the numbers to rout the second army, and report back to her Lord, victorious. That Solar's meddling had cost her greatly: she had lost her command, had possibly cost Rosethorne her position as General of the Mask's armies, and to cap it all off, she owed him her life.

Her fingers relaxed as she thought further, still automatically watching the Immaculate guard marching as she lost herself in thought. On the other hand, he had extended kindness to someone who by rights was his enemy, three times now. He had saved her life in the canyon, he had tried to talk the Immaculate soldiers out of getting suspicious, and he had shown her a place to hide properly when this larger force came looking for the first.

Rosethorne smiled. She would have let that first group go unharmed, if it weren't for the absurd way their leader had tried to paint her with words. She was a taker of many lives; a scourge borne of Oblivion, a harbinger of the Abyss within a living being - all these things were true. However, she also had a strong code of honor she abided by, and she would never suffer a fool gladly who tried to stain her honor, whether it be through an insulting remark or act.

Her senses of honor and purpose had kept her focused on each and every goal she had been turned toward by her Lord with unwavering attention, not allowing her own feelings to ever cloud her decisions. She wore her honor like a second suit of armor, preventing her feelings from ever escaping the dark recesses of her mind, and preventing others from seeing any potential weaknesses in her.

She shook her head slightly to bring herself out of her reverie, seeing that the Immaculates had reached the grove below. They fanned out as soldiers should, surrounding the scene. She smiled at their confusion. She had to admit, that Solar in the tree next to her was a good trickster - his idea of leaving all their weapons in their hands befuddled the Immaculate patrol to no end. It annoyed her slightly to still be unarmed, however, that would be taken care of in time. Just because she owed Kale her life didn't mean that she couldn't beat him into unconsciousness with her bare hands, if needs be, and take her weapons back.

She listened to the conversations starting down below, amused by their confusion.

One of the soldiers, wearing blue jade armor and a large sheathed blue jade sword inspected the area, before barking an order at the soldier next to him. "Report!"

The young man saluted, clicking his heels together smartly as he did so. "Sir, We found all five of the patrol, sir. All five had been beheaded, one was disemboweled before he was beheaded. Three of the five had puncture wounds on their necks. All five were found with their weapons in hand. We also found a single black helmet with a large dent in the back by the tree to the North."

Rosethorne winced. She cursed herself for leaving her helmet behind.

The soldier in charge motioned him to continue, somewhat impatiently. "And what sign of struggle, Corporal?"

The younger soldier continued his report, standing ramrod straight. "Sir, whatever happened, happened very quickly. The two with no puncture wounds walked toward the tree where we found the black helmet, and were beheaded there. There was little sign of a struggle. We found a few more footsteps around the other three, suggesting they had been rounded up back to back at first, before being slain and punctured."

The one in charge nodded. He looked again at the young soldier still saluting him. "Good work. Any ideas as to the construction of the helmet?"

"Yes sir, given the metal and its properties, it appears to be made of soulsteel."

Rosethorne closed her eyes and shook her head. Despite that annoying Solar's bright ideas, this one would fall flat, and they would be discovered. She was sorely tempted to save them the trouble and greet her own fate now, but decided not to.

The soldier in charge began pacing the area, looking for himself. He barked to the young soldier following him obediently. "Anything else you found, soldier?"

The younger soldier saluted again, smartly. "Yes sir, we found traces of a strange dust near the helmet, making a rough approximation of a man-sized creature."

Rosethorne glanced swiftly over to where she could still barely see Kale, in the tree next to her. He turned his attention away from the troops for a moment to look back. He smiled at her, winked, and looked back at the scene below.

The one in charge raised an eyebrow before barking at his subordinate. "Is that all?"

The young soldier saluted once more. "Sir, yes sir."

The Immaculate in charge hailed another soldier, barking another order. "Lieutenant, what's your analysis?"

The soldier hailed stood, and faced his commanding officer, saluting smartly. "Sir, my guess is that our soldiers defeated whatever it was, though they all gave their lives valiantly to contain such an evil."

Rosethorne could barely hear the valiantly-concealed laughter coming from the tree next to her. She glared at him, and he grinned back at her, unrepentant. Utterly undisciplined, he was.

The blue jade armored soldier roared out orders for all his contingent. "Collect the bodies and all their belongings, along with the helmet of the spirit who was defeated by the might of those with Dragons' Blood roaring in their veins! We will give them a proper heroes' burial at camp. Move!"

With that, the soldiers efficiently made stretchers for their fallen compatriots, collected all the evidence of the battle, and began to march down the path, toward their camp down below. The sun began to appear on the Eastern horizon.

Rosethorne and her strange companion both waited at least fifteen minutes, for the Immaculate soldiers to be completely out of earshot. Once they were, the first noise she heard was Kale finally giving voice to the laughter he'd been holding in for so long. She unsteadily began climbing down, ignoring him. She grew impatient, and simply leapt from the tree branches above, landing on all fours to absorb the shock properly. She looked to the tree next to her, and saw Kale leaning against it, still chuckling slightly. She fixed him with a wintry glare, which seemed to have no effect whatsoever on his exhuberance. "Proud of yourself, are you?"

He grinned unrepentantly at her. "Oh, yes indeed I am. I think we both know that if they found nothing to blame their friends' deaths on, they'd still be looking here. I gave them something to blame their deaths on, and off they went."

She didn't think she could take being in proximity to him much longer. She had to admit to herself that he was right, and...to a small degree, the idea was amusing. However, he was also an undisciplined, irritating, cowardly do-gooder. "Was it worth the price of my helmet, Solar?"

He shrugged. "You left it behind, and I thought it would be perfect for the purpose."

Rosethorne shook her head. She didn't have a proper answer to that. She idly began to feel the back of her head again with her right hand, wondering just how much that wound had cost her. She felt that a large scab had formed, and was already beginning to shrink in size, owing to her accelerated healing.

"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, you're probably better off here without your armor."

She whirled around to face him with an icy glare. "And why is that?"

He shrugged. "The Dragon-Blooded are probably on the lookout for anyone in black armor now, since they don't know what happened to you during the battle."

She shook her head, and focused her attention on the sunrise. It had been many, many years since she had seen one. It made her feel...unexpectedly peaceful. Even as the peace began to steal quietly into her thoughts, giving her a sense of calm once more, she couldn't help but wonder once more. "Why are you helping me? Why are you going through trouble to help someone who tried to have you killed?"

Something told her that even though she couldn't see him, he shrugged again. "I have my reasons."

Rosethorne took a deep breath, still staring at the emerging sun. "I will discover your reasons sooner or later, Solar."

She heard quiet laughter from the direction she knew he was still standing. Well, guessed he was standing anyway, that little sneak evidently had a talent for throwing his voice. "Only if I actually tell you, and that's not going to happen. Not for a very long time."

She heard the muffled noises of someone stretching, and heard him speak up again. "I know that we both don't need as much sleep as we once did, but I'm tired, personally. I'm going to go get some rest."

She was no longer surprised that she heard no noise as he found a proper place to sleep. Knowing him and his tendancy to play at being a monkey, that resting place was likely in a tree. She sighed, and sat down crosslegged on the ground, still beholding the morning sun's brilliant rays, beginning to lose herself in thought once more.

Why had the accursed Essence within her been so quiet, ever since she had reached the surface? She didn't notice it at first, but it made her suspicious. After all, there was a Solar nearby, why had the insane Essence within her not even spoken up once about slaying him? She felt uncomfortable as she began to examine her own feelings, being nearly alien to her now, having lived for so long without acknowledging them. She knew intellectually that five years wasn't a very long time, but much had happened in those five years. And why did she feel a sneaking sense of...peace around that annoying, scruffy Solar?

Rosethorne took a deep breath to clear her mind. It wasn't good to dwell on such things, as emotions were a mark of the living. Even with that statement she had repeated to herself so often over the years to keep her emotions well-hidden even to herself, she couldn't help but think of that wraith she had taken that mirror from. He said many cryptic things to her that she had dismissed as insane ramblings of one trapped in the lands of the dead for over a thousand years. One of the things he had said stuck out in her mind now, though. When he was describing "true life" and "Oblivion-sustained life," the words he used deliberately implied that though she was an Abyssal, she was still alive, and by extension, human still, with all the frailties and weaknesses that humans have.

That thought made her shudder. She decided to end this journey of thoughts, as she was quite uncomfortable with where they seemed to be leading. She decided to rest now, to sleep away this accursed brightness the sun brought. She climbed inexpertly into the tree she had hidden within earlier, and found a place that would serve as a decent enough place to rest, and closed her eyes, welcoming the darkess of sleep.

Many strange, disconnected images and scenes played out in her mind as she dreamed, unable to make sense of them. They seemed to bear no relation to one another, but ensnared her in their embrace anyway. After a time of this, she heard his voice once again; the voice she had been alternately dreading and waiting for. He seemed to be more insane than usual.

"I left her behind...I should have stayed strong..."

She felt that she should speak, in these dreams. "Who did you leave behind?"

"Her...My one..."

She began to get slightly annoyed. "Who is this her you keep mentioning?"

"I'm glad we're on the surface now, so I don't have to hear the accursed whispers of that desiccated lump of flesh worming into my mind. It can't seem to reach me here...but that means I'm lost in my memories..."

Rosethorne was growing increasingly annoyed at his non-sequitor. "Since you're not hearing voices right now, would you mind explaining your prattling?"

She heard a deep, rumbling chuckle, in the shadows of her dream. "You can't go back, you know. They hunt you, even now."

Even in dreams, a deep breath managed to help her retain her calm. "So now I'm a rogue, is that it?"

"You know just as well as I that due to what happened, you've already lost your position as general of the Mask's armies. Your life is forfeit, now."

She thought that over. She was half-surprised to realize that however insane he was, he was also right in this regard. She fell in battle and failed in her appointed task, which was a crime of failure to her Lord. She hadn't accepted death on the battlefield for falling as she did, which was a crime of cowardice, despite the circumstances. She was also now, however briefly, keeping company with a Solar, which was a crime of fraternization with the living, and a serious one.

"Yes, you see now. They will come for you, as you disrupt the flow of the Mask's plans by existing at this moment."

"So, what then? Do I just allow myself to fall when they do, and give myself a true soldier's death?" She was half surprised, actually. He was actually talking sense, for once.

"That's your choice. For a small glimmer of hope I still hold onto, I suggest you stay alive. If you die, then at least I'll finally have peace, but you'll be hearing the Malfean's whispers until you're able to sleep. I'd far rather I deal with it than you."

"And why, exactly, are you being so self-sacrificing?" This was certainly getting interesting.

"To...to show her that I'm trying to atone for my weakness. I'm staying strong now to try making up for what I've done."

That irritated her. He seemed to give no more than vague hints. "You and that Solar are a lot alike. Neither of you say what you mean, obfuscating it behind vague hints and misleading words."

She felt a glimmer of a smile from him, like white teeth in the darkness.

"And what is this glimmer of hope you hang onto? Hope is for the living."

"Aye, it is."

She woke up abruptly, her jaw clenching in irritation. She wiped the sleep from her eyes as she surveyed the place around her now. It was now late evening, her nose detecting roasting meat and a fire nearby. She stretched slightly, the underpadding of her armor beginning to feel a little sweaty. She climbed down, and saw Kale roasting some small animal over a fire. "Why don't you eat it raw?"

He didn't look up from what he was doing. "Why don't you eat at all?"

Her eyes narrowed. One thing she despised about this man was that he seemed to be quicker-witted than she. Marginally. She sat near the fire, feeling the heat begin to steal into her skin through her armor. She just sat there, gazing into the flames.

She shook herself after a time to discover that Kale was no longer sitting there, but rather standing a ways off, looking into the valley below, and toward Thorns. She exhaled a bit more forcefully than necessary. Was she so abhorrent? She decided to get up and see what he was looking at. She walked softly through the grass, stopping at his side.

He pointed out with his finger toward something in the valley below. "Friend of yours?"

She noticed that his voice had no hint of amusement this time. She squinted into the darkness, and could see a small moving figure, but couldn't make out any details. "What is it?"

He continued looking for a moment before answering, all traces of a smile absent from his face. "Whoever it is, it looks almost exactly what you looked like two days ago. Black armor, and riding a headless horse."

"Warstrider," she corrected him automatically.

"Whatever. Whoever it is, they're headed this way, and in a hurry." He continued gazing at the figure, hawk-like.

She inhaled slowly, clenching and unclenching her hands at her sides. "It's another Deathknight. Whoever's riding the warstrider is after me, and me alone."

He looked at her solemnly. "I take it your former boss is angry at you for not dying?"

She nodded, not looking away from the figure, slowly growing larger as it moved swiftly toward them. "Among other things."

He looked back at the figure, taking a deep breath of his own. "I see."

She saw him calmly take the bow from over his shoulder, nock an arrow, and aim at the approaching rider. She reached out, and moved the arrow down, not moving her eyes from the incoming Deathknight. "No. I must face him alone."

He shrugged, and put the bow back over his shoulder, placing the arrow back into his quiver. "Very well. But do me a favor, and check the ground around you before he gets here."

She narrowed her eyes, and turned to look askance at him, but he had already gone. She moved her gaze downwards, and saw her sheathed scimitar and claw lying neatly at her feet. A small smile began to disturb her normally stone-like features as she crouched down, and began to arm herself.

It was strange, Kale thought. That Abyssal, Rosethorne, was watching the approaching rider completely alone, at her request. She was standing perfectly still, her scimitar still sheathed at her side, her clawed left arm hanging calmly, and her right hanging also, with palm relaxed. Ever since he'd met this strange woman though, he'd learned to notice the little things - like the shadows below beginning to move on their own in random patterns. The patterns didn't suggest nervousness, which surprised him. They seemed to suggest anticipation, as if the shadows below expressed her emotions, though she herself didn't.

He still wondered why he was still helping her. He'd saved her life, and given back her weapons. Sure, she mentioned that she owed him a debt of her life, but that didn't mean he couldn't just leave now. Something was compelling him to stay here though, and he suspected it was Melia's encouragement.

Sure, that woman certainly wasn't hard on the eyes, but knowing that she was that good at killing gave him the chills. Seeing her dispatch five Immaculate soldiers with frightening ease was more than a little intimidating, but there seemed to be something else there. She toyed with them slightly, taking her time. He had noticed her eyes flick swiftly toward him once or twice while she slew them, which suggested that she was doing it to intimidate him. Well, it had worked, though he couldn't help but watch, mesmerized, at the graceful and efficient way in which she had done so. Well, on the bright side, at least she enjoyed her hobby.

He pulled out an apple, and sliced it with the knife in his boot. As he finished, he saw someone skulking through the darkness on the other side of the grove. He refocused his eyes, and saw that it was a slim, tall man with very pale skin, and short, shock white hair that stood straight up. Great, another Abyssal. He pulled the bow from his shoulder and nocked an arrow, leaving both lay on his lap. Who knows, perhaps it was someone just watching, as he was. Kale smirked. The guy skulking down below hadn't really searched the area around him too thoroughly, as if not expecting anything out of the ordinary. Kale decided to relax and eat the rest of his apple, though he'd be keeping an eye on the stealthy guy down below.

Kale frowned as he munched quietly on a piece of apple. That guy sneaking around had so obviously never been in the woodlands much. He was doing a splendid job of walking and staying silent, but he never seemed to look up much, as if used to everything being on eye level or below. Kale shook his head. He was somewhat tempted to shoot an arrow into the tree trunk right above that guy's head just to teach him to look up every once in a while, but decided not to. The guy hadn't done anything overtly aggressive; he just seemed to find a comfortable and relatively hidden spot from which to watch the impending fight, just as Kale himself was.

The hoofbeats grew loud enough for Kale to not have to use his essence to enhance his hearing. The rider approached, hoofbeats growing louder and louder, as the rider finally appeared on the path to the grove. He stopped his...horse-like thing, and just stood immobile, looking at Rosethorne. Kale rolled his eyes. Warstrider, right.

The shadows below had stopped moving. The guy with the short white hair down below was sitting immobile. The very air around the grove seemed to stand still, as if holding its breath. Neither Rosethorne, nor the rider moved at all for about five minutes. They had just stared at each other, immobile.

Just as Kale's patience began to run out, the rider hopped out of...wow, that was creepy. The rider hopped out of the opening on the warstrider where the horse's head should be, and walked to exactly ten yards away from Rosethorne, who still hadn't moved in the slightest. The rider's face was visible from behind the bars of the helmet, and its skin looked drawn, and stretched tightly over the bones of the person's face. The rider carried a large, long sword with a serrated edge in one hand, and a large shield with the motif of a mask in the other. The figure seemed to be smiling.

The rider spoke finally, with a loud, clear, and slightly mocking tone. "Greetings, former general. Are you ready to finally experience the sweet Death you've given to so many others over the years?"

Ah, so it was a male who was now challenging her. The rider moved his sword to sit atop his shoulder now, in readiness for the battle ahead.

Rosethorne's voice seemed to start softly, though began echoing around her more loudly. "I've been ready for death ever since I first gave it to someone else."

The figure seemed to smile more widely, as if pleased. "Excellent. The Mask decrees that your sentence is death by my hand. Are you ready to greet the fate of a failure?"

Kale saw Rosethorne's eyes narrow slightly at the rider. "Come, then. Let's see if you're qualified."

The rider laughed a wheezing, strange laugh, and pressed his sword to the forehead of his helmet in salute. Kale saw Rosethorne unsheath her scimitar, and do the same. Both simultaneously dropped their weapons to a ready stance, and began circling one another slowly.

The rider spoke once more in a mocking, derisive tone. "What happened to your helmet, Rosethorne? Are you inviting me to take your head?"

Her eyes began to glow, her irises beginning to churn and whirl, as the very shadows began to surround her. Sheets of ghostly blue flames began moving in a macabre dance within the shadows around her before she spoke. "Are you going to talk, or do you fight as badly as you taunt?"

The figure seemed to smile more broadly, as green and blue witchflame began coursing over his armor. Kale saw that tiny faces all over his armor began appearing, each moaning a mournful noise that trancended language, each one making the noises only those who truly knew despair could make. The rider began singing a low, ominous dirge that was accentuated and punctuated perfectly by the noise the tiny souls of his armor were keening.

Kale began to feel slightly depressed and mournful himself, his mind going automatically and without his consent over all the things he ever regretted doing. He shook himself to clear his head, and glanced at the sneaking man in the grove below, who seemed unaffected. He was just watching as Kale himself was. For some reason, that made Kale feel better, the eerie noises the rider and his armor were making affecting him less.

As he looked at the two circling combatants though, he saw Rosethorne was beginning to be affected as well. Her steps seemed a little less light and graceful, her stride a little less purposeful, the shadows around her moving more randomly. She barely parried the first brutal strike made by the rider, the painful clang of scimitar and long blade ringing out in the still night air.

The look on the rider's face was nearly triumphant now, his head inclined slightly. He simply beat at her with his large, heavy blade, which she seemed to parry with difficulty. He swept low, her legs saved only by the parry she barely made in time. He continued in his motion to strike at her neck, which she ducked and attempted to parry with her claw. She was a little off-balance as the sword struck though, the heavy strike knocking her on her back five feet away. The rider seemed exhultant, his singing increasing in volume.

He didn't walk over to her immediately, which surprised Kale. The rider simply kept singing, as Rosethorne lay on her back, chest heaving slightly with exertion. She reached across her body slowly and reconnected her claw to her gauntlet with a muffled click, and she slowly began getting to her feet.

The rider paused in his singing, and spoke again in a mocking tone through the triumphant, cruel smile on his face. "Your army has been defeated by your failure, your position as head of the armies of the Mask replaced. I should thank you, Rosethorne. Without your ineptness, I wouldn't have taken your position for many years."

She paused as she sat up, her eyes narrowing. Her normally toneless voice carried an undercurrent of anger now. "So, Laughing Doom, you came here to finally get your wish?"

His smile disappeared in an instant. "My name is Gunnar, the Champion of the Abyss now."

She hopped lightly and gracefully to her feet, the shadows beginning to caress her once more. "You've been Exalted for a paltry week, and you seek to supplant me now?"

He smiled again, cruelly. "You fell to someone only a week Exalted, Rosethorne. It's your time to pass on, and allow me your former position."

The very air around the two began to darken, an unnatural darkness growing in strength. Rosethorne's eyes glowed once more, brighter than before, nearly blazing with light. No sheets of blue flame appeared now, only shadows that moved and made threatening motions toward Gunnar. "You have a habit of dreaming of things that you cannot achieve, Doom. Now I shall remind you of why you cannot achieve it."

In the span of barely an eyeblink, she was upon him once more, but there was no lethargy in her movements now. Gunnar began singing once more, but a slash at his throatguard stopped him.

Kale saw the look on Gunnar's face change quite rapidly from truimphant smile, to arrogant humor, to surprise, and finally to his teeth clenched together in concentration. The speed with which she attacked him left him no time to strike in return; indeed, he barely had time to block the furious storm of strikes she rained down upon him from all sides.

Kale watched with amusement now, as he finished the last piece of his apple. He glanced down at the white-haired figure watching from the shadows on the other side of the grove, and saw him frown. Kale smiled a bit wider. Evidently, this was not the result he expected.

Gunnar tried to strike once at her with a brutal strike, intended to cut her in half, and halt her furious onslaught. Instead, the talons of her claw seemed to grow from the top of his weapon arm, his eyes opening wide in shock and pain. She swept at the backs of his knees, making him stumble to sit on his heels. Her blade raised his chin. He struggled to move his weapon arm, but was unable to with her claws through the bones separating his shoulder from his arm. She glared into his eyes, as the shadows began to move less, the preternatural shroud of darkness around them beginning to lift.

"You will need to listen very carefully to what I have to tell you, Doom."

He interrupted her, his voice bearing evidence of the pain he was in. "My name is Gunnar!"

She twisted the claws through his shoulder, and his teeth clenched in pain. "I want you to remember my words after your death, and remember them even in your next lifetime, Doom."

She raised his head with the back of her scimitar to look him in the eyes, Kale realizing that the curve near the top of the blade was designed for just such a purpose. "You're going to die tonight, Doom, and you're going to die by my blade taking your head."

Her eyes glared into his, her mouth changing from impassive to looking angry. "However, I'll be watching for you, Doom. If you try coming after me in your next incarnation, not only will I take your head then, I'll stuff and mount it in a special shrine I'll build specifically for this purpose. After that, I'll hunt you down in each and every lifetime you incarnate into, and after beating you unconscious, I'll drag your unconscious form to that shrine to show you how many times I've killed you once you wake, and telling you that the number of skulls in that shrine is about to increase by one before I take your head. I'll continue doing this for as long as I live, and keep doing it into my next lifetime as well."

She pulled Gunnar toward her, pulling them face to face. "I'll be waiting for you to try coming after me again." With one motion, she yanked her claw out of his shoulder, and beheaded him with her scimitar. His head fell on the grass with a hollow clanking noise, the dirge-like noise coming from the souls of his armor falling silent.

Kale glanced again at the other silent watcher, who was frowning. Kale smirked. Evidently, this wasn't how the white-haired watcher expected things would happen at all. Kale saw the man begin to pull out two short, thin blades, but then think better of them and sheath them once more before skulking away, back the way he came.

He looked back at Rosethorne and the fallen rider. His eyes opened wide with surprise as he saw the warstrider trot over to Gunnar, and scoop his body and head into its head...cavity thing, and trot off the way it had come, much less swift than before. He noticed Rosethorne made no move to stop or impede it in any way.

He hopped silently out of the tree he was hiding within, and landed noiselessly onto the ground below. He walked quietly over to where Rosethorne stood, gazing silently at the plains below. He made sure to walk within her field of vision, just in case she was still a little high-strung from her fight. She moved swiftly into a battle stance when he entered her vision, but she relaxed immediately upon seeing who it was. She sat down on the soft earth, and took off her claw. She took out a black cloth from her scimitar's sheath, and began carefully cleaning it. Kale ducked down into a crouch a few feet away from her, facing her directly. "Old friend of yours?"

She glanced up at him, looking at him quizzically, before returning her attention to her scimitar. "A young upstart who didn't get the message after the first time I took his head."

Kale smirked, and sat down crosslegged, shifting his position until he was comfortable. He pulled out another apple, and began coring and slicing it with his bootknife. "There was someone else here, as well."

She glanced quickly up at him, and gave him a questioning look. "Who?"

He shrugged as he continued slicing his apple. "Nobody I've seen before. Short, white hair, snuck around like he was trying to not be noticed. He'd obviously not been in the woodlands much, though."

Kale was almost surprised to see the barest suggestion of a smile on her normally somber face. "Was he carrying two short swords?"

He finished slicing his apple into eight equal pieces, and threw the core into the grove. "Yes. He looked like he was about to pull them out and introduce himself, but thought better of it and decided to sneak off, instead."

She nodded slightly, as she began carefully sharpening the edge of her scimitar, checking it carefully for nicks and scratches, and polishing them away expertly with her sharpening stone. "He was just watching?"

He looked up at her again as he began to munch on his apple. He replied after he had finished eating the first piece. "Yeah. He didn't look especially happy after you introduced laughing boy to the business end of your sword."

He saw a ghost of a smile on her face again as she sharpened her scimitar. "He has a tendancy to overestimate his ability."

He smirked. "Which one? The sneaky one, or the one who needed singing lessons?"

Her smile grew a little more as she began cleaning and sharpening the blades of her claw. "The arrogant upstart."

Kale smirked a little more widely. "You could accuse both of them of that. I mean, the sneaky one wasn't anywhere near as sneaky as he thought he was."

Rosethorne's shoulders and chestplate shook slightly as she smiled a little more widely, almost approaching a real smile. She glanced up at Kale. "It seems you share their arrogance. How do you know you weren't seen as well?"

Kale grinned. "Because unlike him, I actually looked all around me. But tell me - isn't killing the person who was supposed to take your place in your weird undead hierarchy going to have repercussions?"

She was still smiling slightly as she sharpened out a nick in one of the blades of her claw. "Probably," she said, making eye contact with Kale, and not looking away.

Kale looked back at her eyes, as he munched away quietly on another piece of apple. When he finished, he spoke up once more. "I have to ask - where does that leave you, now?"

The smile disappeared from her face, replaced by a look of concentration as she went back to work on her claw. "It leaves me as a rogue." She looked back at him briefly. "Since you were the one who cost me my position and command, I should kill you. You insulted my honor, and I should kill you for that as well. However, you saved my life, three times now."

Kale interrupted, a curious look on his face. "Not that I mind, but what do you mean by 'three times?' I remember carrying you away from where you got introduced to the business end of a canyon wall, and giving you a place to hide from the Immaculates. Where's the third time?"

She looked at him again as she answered, before looking back at her claw. "You gave me my weapons back before Doom arrived. If you hadn't, I would have died." She worked a little more on the nick in the right blade of her claw before looking at him again, with the barest hint of a smile on her face. "The two reasons I have for taking your head are cancelled out by the two life debts I owe you. However, that still leaves one debt of life."

Kale said nothing, just smiling as he ate his apple. He really wasn't sure what to say. First off, he was surprised at her subtle shows of emotion tonight. From what little he knew of her, she wasn't the emotional type, at all. She had shown both anger and amusement in one night. More importantly, she said she still owed him one, so wasn't planning on killing him unless he pissed her off again.

She glanced at him again, looking purposeful. There was something else there that Kale could barely see...was it...slight nervousness from her? That was certainly odd. She spoke up again. "Since I still owe you my life on one count, I would follow you and serve as your retainer until that debt has been repaid. Do you object?"

Kale raised an eyebrow. Now she wanted to tag along with him? Man, you save someone's life, and look what happens. He smiled before he answered, realizing that she might be somewhat fun to hang around with. As long as she didn't lose that temper of hers, that is. "Fine, but I don't deal well with having servants. If you agree to travel as companion and not as my servant, then yes."

She smiled slightly as she worked on the last blade of her claw, sharpening out a small nick in the black metal. "Very well. Does giving me my weapons back mean you trust me now?"

He chuckled softly. "Not yet. That will take a while."

She nodded in understanding. Knowing her, she probably never let her guard down around anyone, at any time, for any reason. Given the people he had seen who were Abyssals as well, Kale couldn't say he really blamed her.

She spoke up once more as she was sharpening the curves of her claw, her face looking solemn again. "The white-haired one you spoke of is probably Noro, another Deathknight in service to the Mask. If you saw him once, he will probably come again."

Kale nodded. "I'll keep my eyes open." He went back to munching on the last of his apple. He was pleased, the apple trees nearby had some delicious fruit this year. It made him think briefly. Even as all life within Thorns was extinguished, it seemed that other living things nearby grew in response to massive loss of life, as nature tried to balance itself.

He looked at her once more, as she was putting her claw back on. He hid a smile. "You know, if you want to avoid advertising your presence and what you are, you're going to need to lose the armor."

She glared at him briefly at first, before her look softened into curiosity. "I will be unable to sell it, as mortal hands cannot work the metal. What kind of armor would you suggest I get in its place?"

He rested his head on his knuckles. "Actually, I think you shouldn't wear any. If you dressed in common clothes, you'll be much less conspicuous."

She looked at him as if suspecting that he had suddenly taken leave of his senses. "And what happens if a fight breaks out?"

He shrugged, a small smile curling one corner of his mouth. "Somehow, I don't think lack of armor will slow you down at all. Besides, it might help you to be a bit quicker on your feet in a fight."

She raised both eyebrows slightly, a look of part amusement and part disbelief on her face. "Are you actually attempting to give me suggestions on how to fight?"

He smirked again at the dubious look she gave him. "Well, I did notice that you rely overmuch on your armor and parrying to avoid getting hit. Learning how to dodge does have its uses, you know."

She looked at him again as if suspecting that he had lost his mind. "This coming from one who would rather run than fight?"

Kale laughed. "Hey, you said to fell you, and you fell. I still don't see why you're mad about that."

She sighed slightly, before her shoulders and breastplate shook slightly as she smiled, shaking her head.

Kale certainly didn't waste much time, Rosethorne thought. After their discussion, he asked her if she'd mind leaving now, during the night. Of course, Rosethorne was ready to leave immediately, as all she had were her weapons and her armor. After cunningly hiding all evidence of the fire that had been burning comfortingly just a few minutes before, Kale had suggested they take one last look at Thorns before travelling any place else.

What struck Rosethorne as unsettling was that Kale had asked her these things. He hadn't told her, he hadn't ordered her to do anything; he'd simply asked politely, and had considered her opinions when she offered them. She would have considered him weak-minded for not being willing to take charge, but for the small part of her that felt pleased at being asked instead of told. A very small part of her, but it was there, just the same.

She tried to watch how he walked, how he stepped, and how he moved to be as damnably silent as he was. He was walking right beside her as they walked the path toward Thorns, and she hadn't heard a single footstep he made. It was unnerving, especially because she didn't feel any essence flowing from him at all. After ten minutes of walking next to him and not hearing any movement he made except for when he spoke, she felt compelled to ask. "How do you step so quietly? I've not heard you take a single step since we started."

He grinned at her as he replied. "I'm just good."

She glared at him.

He chuckled quietly, as he turned his eyes toward the path ahead once more. He sounded more serious this time. "Actually, I was taught by my father how to move through the forest and not disturb the animals living their lives within from an early age. I've been doing it nearly since I could walk. I suppose it's habit now."

She nodded. It made logical sense, but didn't change the fact that it was slightly annoying. His lack of noise as he walked made her own normally light footsteps seem unnaturally loud in the nighttime air. She glanced down at his feet every few paces or so, trying to learn how he did it.

She still hadn't figured out more than what he was doing, rather than how he was doing it when he spoke up in a quiet voice. "Here we are. We should be able to see fine from here."

She nodded, and ducked down as he did, both of them mostly hidden by the low-growing shrubs and tall grasses skirting the edges of the canyon walls near Thorns. They looked down on the plains below, seeing the many cooking fires that belonged to the individual camps of the Immaculate host.

Kale narrowed his eyebrows in confusion, and whispered to her, "Why do you think they're still out there on the plains, instead of inside?"

One corner of her mouth curled upwards as she surveyed the scene below her, noting all details. She leaned slightly toward him, and whispered back, "Because they haven't taken back the town; right now, they're just trying to prevent any more of the Mask's armies out of the town or the Shadowland nearby." She pointed with one finger extended toward one of the wall towers of the town in the distance. "See the guards on the walls?"

His eyes followed the direction she was pointing, and his eyes widened slightly as he beheld the skeletons patrolling on the walls. She smirked a bit more as she saw the surprise on his face. "What did you expect, that the Mask of Winters wouldn't expect retaliation for what he did?"

He took a deep breath before whispering back. "No, it makes sense." He paused, looking again with slight distaste at the possessed skeletons. "Looks like a happy little standoff, basically."

She nodded. "And will be for a while. I didn't expect that the Immaculate army that came here would be so large, but they won't take back the town." She looked at the base of the walls, where the Shadowland near the town was barely visible in the night air. The tangible shadows caressed the town walls, moving in tides like an ocean of shadows made manifest. It seemed to call to her softly in the night, asking her to come and be embraced by its comforting essence, to walk the ashen plains of the Underworld once more. She shook herself slightly, and took a breath. If she were to return, she would be found and slain instantly. She would take many with her, but she would fall, and be part of the Mask of Winters' entourage once more.

Was it simple adolescent rebellion that she felt, demanding that she stubbornly close her ears to the silent plea of the Shadowland to return to the only place she'd really called home? Or...was it something deeper than that?

She was interrupted in her thoughts by Kale gently touching her arm. She was surprised by the warmth of his hand. "Its time we weren't here," he whispered softly.

She nodded, and they moved quietly away from their lookout point. They walked for a ways and stopped, seeing the Immaculate patrol that would have found them if they stayed five minutes longer. She felt her hand straying to the handle of her scimitar, but stopped herself at seeing the amused look and raised eyebrow on Kale's expressive face. She glared one last time at them before walking away once more.

"You take this death stuff seriously, don't you?" She turned to look at Kale, who still had that same amused look on his face.

She looked back to the path ahead of them as she answered. "Bringing the release of death to people is what I do best, whether alone, or with an army at my back."

She saw him nod in understanding out of the corner of her eye before looking at her questioningly. "You're not speaking in monotone anymore."

She looked at him in surprise before looking ahead of her once more, inclining her head slightly. "I hadn't noticed."

She saw him stop walking out of the corner of her eye, and stopped walking as well, to look at him give her another questioning look, with more than a hint of amusement again. "You stopped tonight, during and after the fight with that guy who tried to kill you." He tilted his head to the side, as if looking at her from a different angle. He spoke up again when she didn't give him a response right away. "Facing him and winning was almost a sense of...release, wasn't it?"

Her eyebrows raised in surprise as she gazed steadily into his eyes. "How in the name of Death did you know that?"

He shrugged. "I've learned how to see the subtle things; more so since the Essence that Exalted me taught me how to do so better."

Her eyebrows narrowed in a mixture of surprise and confusion. "Your Essence taught you?"

He nodded, a little surprised at her question. "Yeah, she's been teaching me for the past couple months, letting me know exactly what I'm getting myself into, and showing me how to use my essence."

The corners of her mouth curled upward slightly as she looked at him, amused. "Your Essence is female?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, so?"

She smiled a little bit more. "I see. It explains why you didn't touch me when you had the chance." She turned to go, and began walking.

He was quickly at her side, looking at her with a mixture of amusement and slight annoyance. "No, I didn't touch you because I'm a gentleman. I won't touch a woman like that unless she's willing, and preferably awake."

She nodded slowly as she looked into his eyes, the corners of her mouth still curled upwards into a slight smile, dubious. "Of course."

She mostly believed him, but she also enjoyed getting him back for the times he'd outwitted her. However, she was still slightly confused. All the men she'd known would take advantage of an unconscious woman, being unable to help themselves and control their urges. And yet, he hadn't done so. Did he think of her as unattractive?

He gave her an exasperated look. "What?!"

She smirked at him slightly before turning to go again. "You're an odd man, Solar."

He kept pace with her. "Is your Essence a woman?"

Rosethorne shook her head slightly. "No, it's what's left of a man."

She saw him smirk briefly out of the corner of her eye, as he turned his head to look at the path ahead of them again. "Explains why you wear armor all the time."

She narrowed her eyes as she turned to look at him. He had a neutral expression on his face, as if attempting to look innocent. "And just what are you implying, Solar?"

He shook his head, still looking neutrally and innocently at the path ahead of them. "Nothing at all. A person's preferences as to who they'd like to share a bed with is none of my business."

Rosethorne glared at him. He turned to look at her, and grinned at her before looking back at the path before them, chuckling quietly. She turned to look ahead as well, though smirked slightly as she did.

They walked for a few minutes in silence, before she turned to look at him once more. "Where are you going?"

He looked back at her. "I was going to go back to my parents' old cabin. There'd be a few clothes there that might suit you, so you don't have to wear your armor all the time."

Though she intellectually understood his reasons for suggesting she not wear armor now, she still resented the idea. Her armor was a symbol of her ability to fight, to lead armies; a symbol that she was not someone to be taken lightly. It intimidated others as well, which was a nice start to a potential fight. However, he did make a good point - her armor marked her for what she was, which was an Abyssal - an avatar of Death itself, which the Dragon-Blooded fools were trying determinedly to contain. She would be marked and hunted for it, now that she was alone.

After half an hour of walking, they came upon a small clearing in the forest, hidden on all sides by the dense growth of trees. No smoke rose from it's stone chimney, and the windows had been carefully boarded up. She glanced at her companion, but saw no look of surprise on his face. In fact, she saw a brief look of sadness on his face as they neared the cabin, though he managed to hide it after a moment. That made her curious, though she didn't say anything yet.

He held a finger to his lips as he looked at her, indicating silence. He motioned for her to wait on the edge of the trees, and she nodded in understanding. She observed him move stealthily toward the cabin, looking all around him as he did so. He came to the door, and pressed his ear against it, his brown eyes narrowed in concentration. He opened the door, and went inside. He appeared again after a few moments, before calling to her softly. "It's clear, come on inside."

She marched toward the cabin, nearing the door soon enough, and looked inside, taking in the surroundings. The cabin hadn't been abandoned long; a few months, at most. A light cover of dust covered some places, though the furniture and other things inside didn't look decayed or rotted in the least. She saw Kale putting wood into the fireplace, adding more from the small pile beside it until he was satisfied, and lit it, creating a small, mostly smokeless fire. He filled a teapot full of water, and rested it on the rack above the now-burning dry wood.

He turned to look at her, the expression on his face indicating he had just thought of something. "You can drink water, can't you?"

She nodded. "I can drink water, but I cannot gain sustenaince from your food."

He gave her a half-smile, and strode toward one of the cabinets on the opposite wall, opening a few of the drawers and looking inside. He paused as he opened the second one, just staring into it for a few seconds before he seemed to gather himself together again, and look at her. "See if the clothes in here fit you. I'm going to check around this place for a little while and make sure nothing's amiss. I'll knock when I get back; just let me know when you're done."

He strode for the door before her voice stopped him. "What shall I do with the teapot?"

He turned a bit more to look her in the eyes, and smiled a little. "Once it starts whistling, just move it to the clay plate on top of the fireplace. I'll take care of it when I get back."

She nodded. "Very well."

He walked out of the cabin, closing the door quietly behind him. She looked around again, and saw a bathtub in the corner, which made her smile. It had been a few days, and she certainly needed one, having not bathed since she came to the surface. That thought made her pause. Had it really been five days already since then?

She thought more as she began heating more water for her bath, thinking about how much things had changed in such a short span of time. Four days ago, she was the acknowledged mailed right fist of the Mask of Winters, charging toward the surface world, assured of her power as general of all armies. She had taken the town with brutal efficiency, and had even received acknowledgement of such by the Mask of Winters himself.

But as if to balance how well things seemed to be going, it went badly so terribly fast. She had drawn the Immaculate expeditionary force into the canyon, having laid preparations to bottle them up like fish in a barrel, ripe for the slaughter. She had blamed Kale for helping her to lose the battle, but in reality, the loss of a paltry hundred possessed skeletons had affected the battle little. She had drawn out the battle, not expecting that they'd get so many reinforcements. She had slain many of them, their deaths and wounds giving her even more strength as she slew them, but it wasn't enough. Her ambushing army had been cut down, just as she had been taken down shortly afterwards.

Her questions were still unanswered; about why Kale had saved her life, about why he had helped her, about why he had returned her weapons in time to fight Laughing Doom, now reborn. She smiled at this. She had no doubt that she'd see that incompetent fool again, but it wouldn't be for quite a while. The Mask did not like failure, and would put Laughing Doom through even more training after he Exalted, during the time the Mask of Winters personally supervised the running of Thorns, and defence of the town against the Immaculate legions. The Mask would ensure that the next time she saw Laughing Doom, he would be more ready to duel her.

She smiled a little more widely as she put the last heated bucket of water into the bathtub and began to remove her armor. It didn't matter how well trained he was; she'd kill him again. She stopped, as she realized her own arrogance. Laughing Doom as an Essence had Exalted a new warrior for the Mask, and having been Exalted for barely a week, had nearly won the fight. She clenched her teeth in a silent oath to herself. She'd just have to be more than ready for him when he arrived next.

She wrinkled her nose as she removed the last of her armor, and began to remove the underpadding. She didn't sweat as much now, being what she was, but it had been a few days of heavy fighting since she had last had a bath. As she got in and began to wash, she half-wondered why the Solar, Kale, hadn't said anything. From how his eyes and ears seemed preternaturally sharp, he had undoubtedly smelled what had made her nose wrinkle involuntarily as she took off her armor.

Once she finished bathing, she dried herself with one of the large, soft towels near the tub, and walked to the drawer Kale had opened for her. She saw that half the drawer had clothes made for a woman, and the other side had clothed made for a man. All were clean and neatly folded. She wondered at this. Kale seemed a bit young to have been married, though how someone looked physically was a poor indicator for their true age, if they were an Exalt.

She looked through the male clothes, and eyed them critically. They were made for a man with wider shoulders than Kale, though not quite as tall. This fact confused her more. Were these the clothes of his parents, perhaps? What had happened to them, that would necessitate boarding up the cabin, allowing it to grow dusty with disuse?

Her mind returned to her original task, and checked to see if the woman's clothes would fit her. The woman was obviously shorter than she was, and not as well-endowed, either; the shirts having to stretch to barely cover her chest, the arms of the shirts closing tightly into the muscles of her arms. She didn't bother to check the size of the woman's skirts, as she didn't like the idea of wearing a skirt in any case. Hearing the teakettle beginning to whistle gave her a few moments to think, as she set it on the clay plate atop the fireplace. She walked back to the drawer, looking intently at the man's clothes.

A few of the man's shirts fit her nicely, though they ended slightly above her waist. Well, that was fine; the shirts themselves were slightly baggy still, which would allow her full freedom of movement. She picked out a few of the man's pants, and found a few that fit her waist perfectly, though they ended a few inches above her ankles. However, they were baggy as well, which wouldn't hinder her any if a fight broke out. Even if she weren't wearing armor to advertise that she was constantly ready for a fight, she would still be ready for one.

She smiled. The Solar, Kale, seemed to be unwilling to start a fight, though he was certainly willing to finish one. As much as she distained his fighting around him, she had seen him fight with that large, slightly unwieldy oversized katana, and knew him to be capable with it. He wasn't as experienced with it as she was experienced with her claw and scimitar, but then again, he didn't have the look of someone who'd been training in any kind of military.

She looked down at her bare feet, wondering what she could do for shoes. She could probably wear her armor-plated foot coverings from her armor, as their black color would help hide the fact that they were in fact armored unless someone studied them with more than a casual glance. She finished pulling on the other armored shoe just as Kale knocked on the door.

"Enter," she said, standing up now, and testing how well she could move in her current state of dress. Kale walked in, and raised an eyebrow as he saw her, looking her up and down thougtfully. Rosethorne noticed to her private amusement that his eyes lingered just a little longer than necessary on the pale skin revealed by where the shirt and pants didn't quite meet, as well as her pale neck before meeting her eyes once more. "My father's clothes fit you better, I take it?"

She nodded, looking curiously at him, now having confirmation of whose clothes those were. "Aye." She wanted to ask what had happened to them, as their memory still caused him a little pain, as if he hadn't accepted their deaths as inevitable. Perhaps they had reached a violent end. She decided not to press for answers, for now.

He smiled slightly. "I'd tease you again about wearing a man's clothes, but I already did so once today."

Rosethorne smiled slightly in response before replying. "It's better for your health that you do not."

The smile stayed on his face as he walked over to the teakettle. He glanced at her as he poured himself a cup of tea. "Thank you for taking the kettle off the fire."

She nodded in response, being unused to thanks, or praise. "I took a bath as well."

He smiled with a hint of impishness as he looked her in the eyes once more. "Good. You were getting pretty ripe." That definately earned him a glare.

Both whirled toward the door, hearing a heavy hand knocking loudly. "Open up, in the name of the Scarlet Empress!"

Kale glanced at her, calmly taking a sip of his tea. "I hope you left your armor near the tub."

Right, play it cool now that you already messed up. Nice one, hotshot.

Kale berated himself silently, sipping his tea, as he heard the heavy pounding on the door from the Immaculate guards who'd been snooping around the cabin. When he'd knocked on the door to see if Madame Psychopath was done changing into clothes that didn't immediately brand her to the Immaculates as someone to attack, what he'd meant to say was "We need to act natural, Immaculates are coming." And what actually came out of his mouth as he stood like an idiot in the doorway? That's right, "My father's clothes fit you better, I take it?"

Well, it wasn't entirely his fault for completely and utterly losing his train of thought. He'd been expecting to see an undead lady pretending to be a normal living, breathing, human commoner, and what he saw was...well, if he didn't know better, he'd think it was a normal, healthy, gorgeous woman who hadn't seen the sun in the last ten years. The drool threatening to escape the corner of his mouth was quickly reigned in due to two factors: one, the woman he almost drooled looking at could probably kill him in a matter of seconds, and two, there were Immaculates at the door that he'd forgotten to tell her about.

He didn't really remember what he'd said, as he was busy trying not to stare at parts of her he shouldn't, but he remembered his brilliantly witty remark he'd said to her right after the knocking started: "I hope you left your armor near the tub." Right genius, like it'll be all her fault if things go badly.

He could feel their suspicion already, so his little trick that would generate the "Nope, nothing to see here, move along" effect wouldn't work. He swiftly took off his quiver, bow, sheathed blade, and satchel, and kicked them underneath the bed as he was walking to the door sipping his tea, trying to project an outward air of calm. He did his best not to look at her as he neared the door, otherwise he knew his little self-assured act would break down completely. Dammit, nobody ever told him that she'd actually be attractive, let alone mind-numbingly gorgeous.

He opened the door right as the soldier was preparing to knock again, which would probably result in the door getting smashed to splinters. Apparently, the soldier didn't know his own strength. He opened the door, feigning surprise as he saw who it was. "Oh, good morning, gentlemen. What can I do for you?"

He saw that the way the soldier was standing, he'd been prepared to punch the door in as Kale opened it. Sorry pal, so very sorry to deprive you the pleasure of smashing in my front door. "Mornin', sir. We're ordering all civilians to vacate the area. There's reportedly an Anathema running around loose and unaccounted for, and the fighting from Thorns might spread near here. We'd rather no innocent lives be in danger."

Kale's eyes opened wide in mock-surprise, and even pretended to choke on his tea. "A-A-Anathema, you say? Fighting? Oh dear..." He turned to look at the Abyssal standing a few paces behind him, the look on her face neutral. That made him feel better for a moment, until he realized that the look on her face as she killed those other five Immaculate soldiers was also neutral. Oh, joy. "Rose, did you know anything about this?"

She glared at him for shortening her name like that, but she also replied, in a tone of voice that sat neatly on the corners of annoyed and suspicious. "Nothing recent, no."

The soldier on his doorstep tipped his helmet to her, with a mumbled "Ma'am," before he faced Kale once more. "Well, it's for your own protection. We'd be happy to escort you two to the next town, if you'd like. But we're trying to evacuate as many people around here as fast as possible, so please just pack what you think you'll need. If you have any weapons and know how to use them, we encourage you to bring them along as well - we've heard some reports of bandits in the area as well."

Kale didn't dare look back at Rosethorne now. If he did, he knew he'd lose his composure. "I see. Alright, we'll be packed and leaving soon. Don't worry about the escort though, we'll be alright."

The soldier looked slightly surprised. "I mean no offence to you or your wife sir, but we'd feel better if we knew you were safe."

Kale kept a straight face with a valiant effort. He could only imagine what her response would be to being called his "wife," let alone the insinuation that they couldn't take care of themselves. On the other hand, for being a Dragon-Blooded, this soldier didn't seem so bad. Must be the exception to the rule, he guessed.

"No, that's alright. I grew up in these woods, and I know them like the back of my hand; I know the safe routes to Ayodha, Celeren, and Puyo," Kale replied. It was much easier to say that, than "don't worry, the lady behind me gets bored if she's not killing someone."

The soldier nodded. "Very well. We suggest you leave by dusk tonight, though. Have a good and safe journey, sir." And with that, they left.

Kale closed the door after them, somewhat shocked. Polite Dragon-Blooded? When his father spoke up about the Dragon-Blooded at all, it was to say something scathing. Kale quickly got the idea growing up that for the most part, Dragon-Blooded Exalts were trained to be drunk on their power. Still, it was nice to see an exception.

As he stood there for a second, still looking at the closed door, he knew he'd have to turn around and look at her. He was almost afraid to, especially after hearing that remark of hers. Ah well, they needed to discuss this anyway.

Kale turned around to see her gazing thoughtfully at the door, and then look at him. "Don't call me 'Rose' ever again."

He shrugged as non-chalantly as possible. "Sorry if it offended you. I thought the soldiers would find it suspicious that we don't talk while they were here, and it seemed more familiar than your full name."

She just looked at him. It was a neutral look, one that basically said "I'm not offering any suggestions, but be careful when you do so." Nice.

He decided to break the silence. "Well, I've been wanting to travel anyway. Did you want to stay in an inn tonight, and then travel the next day?"

She spoke after a moment. "I cannot sleep in the same building as the living."

That was new. "Why not?"

As if waiting for him to ask, as she probably had, she replied. "The Abyss-touched Essence within me will resonate more and more if I do so."

Yet another question he felt compelled to ask, even though he knew he was going to regret hearing the answer. "What do you mean by 'resonate?'"

She looked at him as if expecting him to drop the subject. "The more I act contrary to what I am, the more I resonate with the Oblivion within me rebelling. Unhealthy things happen when I resonate enough."

Wait a minute. "So you're okay with sleeping outside, but not with sleeping on a bed with someone in the same building as you?"

She merely shrugged.

Okay, then. Kale and Rosethorne exchanged a purposeful look, and then began packing lightly, as the Immaculate soldier suggested. They looked at each other again at roughly the same time, having grabbed the important bits: weapons mostly, especially in her case. Her satchel looked quite empty.

She caught his look, and looked into the washing area of the cabin. "May I borrow a towel and some of your soap?"

This is so surreal, he thought. "Sure; grab a few changes of clothes too, just in case."

She nodded, and was quickly ready, her satchel neatly packed. He had to admit, she looked quite a bit different with that scimitar sheathed at her hip, a satchel over her shoulder, and without armor on. He turned away and walked toward the door before he began staring. Again. "Alright, ready to go?"

She simply swept by him out onto the grass in front of the cabin. He followed suit, and both were quickly on their way to Ayodha. He explained his reasoning for going to this town to her as they walked. Though Kale got the distinct impression she was only half-listening, he talked anyway.

"Ayodha is a small town, though it has all the necessities: blacksmith, and all that. They won't ask too many questions about two strangers. It's always been a pretty easy-going place."

She nodded once at this. Her silence quickly became contagious, with nary a word passed between them as they walked onward. She had a very purposeful, marching stride that set a pretty good pace. He'd had trouble keeping step with her at first, being unused to marching, but quickly adjusted.

Minutes turned into hours as they walked onward in silence. Thankfully, this silence gave him some time alone with his thoughts. Such as, "How did I manage to get myself into this again?" and "I wonder what's going through her mind right now?"

Suddenly, she stopped in her pace, just standing on the path. Kale stopped as well, and looked back at her questioningly. "What is it?"

She turned slightly to look him directly in the eyes, fixing him in place with her stare. "You've saved my life, you've even clothed me. Why are you doing this? What are you planning?"

...Now he knew what a deer felt like with an arrow through its head. If he told her about what Melia had told him, she'd probably jump him, and not in the healthy way. Having been brought up by his parents to never tell a lie, this nonetheless didn't exclude only telling parts of the truth. On the other hand, something about her made him want to be honest with her.

"Fair's fair. I'll tell you why I saved your life the first and subsequent times and why I'm still helping you now, if you agree to tell me why you're here allowing me to help you, instead of back in the land of the dead or wherever."

The subtle look of surprise on her face told him that she wasn't expecting that. She paused for a moment, obviously thinking. "And why should I tell you these things before you tell me why you saved me?"

Kale smiled a little. "Because even though I made the offer of helping you, you still could have said no."

She looked into the distance, not really staring at anything, just thinking. Kale had done the same himself many times, though it was still a little strange to see someone else do it. She came to a decision a few moments later. "Very well. I agree to your price, but I shall pay it later, in exchange for your answers."

In other words, whatever her reasons were, they probably made her about as uncomfortable as it would be for him to explain to her that his Essence told him he should save her, because she had Melia's husband's Essence within her. Yeah, how well would that go?

They walked along in silence once more, each lost in thought. Both of them seemed to be lost in their own thoughts, not paying as much attention to the world around them. Kale chided himself silently for this when he heard the first gruff voice from the woods around him.

"Oy lads! We got ourselves a nice young lass, and her rich boyfriend!"

"Aye, I wants a turn wit' her before she's too cut up to be pretty no more."

Kale glanced sideways. Oh yes, those two remarks had certainly caught her attention. However, unlike what the bandits were expecting, she didn't get shaky, fearful, or do anything rash. She simply moved the bag of her satchel to be facing her back rather than her front, and moved the cloth safety off the handle of her scimitar, with her right hand sitting lightly on the handle of the black-bladed weapon.

Kale felt that it was polite to at least give them some warning. "Look guys, we can see you, and you're not going to get a damn thing from us, except exploratory surgery with cold steel. Piss off."

Four of them leapt from the tree above, and the bushes around them, as more appeared behind them, leaving them surrounded. One of them snarled, "Oh, they wants a fight, do they lads?"

It was over with pathetically soon, really. Kale knew that they were just ordinary humans, and so he felt a little bad for helping her lay all of them low. Wasn't this an abuse of power, really?

Rosethorne apparently was having no ethical qualms about it, as she simply cleaned and replaced her simitar in its sheath and re-adjusted her satchel, impatient for him to be ready as well.

It seemed ironic, really. It was one of his worst fears to be corrupted by the seductive lure of power by the essence he now felt flowing within him, and here he was, walking with someone who apparently had no problems with it. In fact, he thought darkly, she probably had it a bit easier - being Abyssal, spending time with the living was bad anyway, so killing was no big thing.

However, for Kale, though the number of people he'd slain was still less than ten, he still felt the pangs of regret and "what if" pretty strongly. Though he knew it was necessary in a life-or-death situation, and though he'd reacted precisely as he'd been taught to do, he still felt their blood on his hands. He just hoped he'd never be as nonchalant about killing as she seemed to be.

They trudged onward in silence once more, both lost in thought again. As the forest's edge gave way to grassy plains, they were both slightly surprised to see dusk falling, both having been lost in thought enough to not really notice the passage of time as much.

She spoke to him for the first time in hours. "Do you have a purpose for going to this town?"

He shrugged, and decided to be utterly honest. "The best reason I could think of is that Ayodha's far enough away from Thorns so we don't run into any of your old friends or the Immaculates. Besides, it seemed to be the excellent starting point for a good journey."

That earned him a quizzical look. "What sort of journey are you planning?"

He shrugged again. "Well, to be honest, I've never really explored outside of the small area of the world I grew up in. Now that I have the time, I'd like to just explore."

There was a pause, before she spoke to him in an acidic voice, giving him a look to match. "You don't know where you're going?"

He looked directly at her now, since both of them had stopped. "I know in general, but I don't have an itinerary, no."

She was still giving him the same look, but her voice didn't seem so caustic this time. "Exploring just for its own sake seems nebulous."

He nodded, his face serious. Because he was. For now. "True. But on the other hand, I have nothing really tying me home any longer."

She tilted her head sideways somewhat, as if to view him from a different angle. Finally, she looked ahead of them again with a straightened posture, as if she'd reached a decision. As indeed, she had. "Lead on, Solar."

He glared at her. "You know that name is taboo, and will probably gather us un-necessary attention, right?"

She looked blankly at him. "Are you afraid of what might happen?"

He shook his head, looking at her slightly in disbelief. "No, I'd just rather not attract undue attention. After all, there's two of us. Granted, we're strong enough to handle ourselves, but I'd rather not attract people's attentions any more than possible. The more we resemble forgettable tourists where we visit, the better."

She tilted her head slightly as he was talking. It reminded Kale of a crow deciding which parts of the corpse were the best to eat. She straightened as he finished speaking, and shrugged slightly. "Very well, we'll do it your way." She began walking again. "...human."

He glared at her, and began walking again.

Being in the world of the living was still new to Rosethorne. In the lands of the dead there was normally silence, broken occasionally by the ghosts of certain animals, or wraiths living out their unlives. Here though, sounds and smells of insects, birds, animals, even trees filled her ears and nose. The chaos and messiness of life itself at first seemed to accost her senses, but she was growing used to it once more. She remembered that long ago, as a little girl, she had lived here on the surface. She had spent many long years hearing how the messiness, illness, and chaos of life was far inferior to the silence and peace of death, and had even begun to believe it herself.

Now though, seemingly innocuous things such as a bird's call to his mate, deer crashing through the brush in the distance, even the irritation of insects attempting to bite her seemed refreshing. The breezes carried interesting smells; even the feel of the wind on her face was something she realized that she had forgotten about, and had even missed, to a degree.

The Solar was walking next to her. At first, she had marched as she normally would have while on a campaign. To her surprise, he had managed to keep up for quite a few hours. He was looking around calmly, not even breathing heavily. Their pace had slowed over the past few hours to a pleasant walking speed, just taking in the sights. He hadn't spoken after that incident with the bandits. It was strange; it was as if he wasn't comfortable being an Exalt, as if he were trying to put all his experiences in the context of still being human. Had she ever been that naive?

No, from the moment that thrice-accursed soul had begun to share her body and begin to bond to her, she was taught to use it, with the implication being that she was no longer human, and never could be. Five long years of campaigning, warfare, and fighting had reinforced this beyond anything else. Barring falling in battle, her new longevity, resistance to diseases and poisons, and accelerated healing had brought this fact home to her many times.

That war with the forces of the Yozi had brought this fact home harder than anything else. Given normal circumstances, a force of two hundred and fifty soldiers plus her against a force of more than a thousand hungry and sadistic creatures would have been a lost cause. Before that battle, she hadn't used the dark essence within her much. She had been forced to, lest she and the rest of her force fall to those hateful things. Her entire being sung with the dark energy coursing through her as she repeatedly drew upon it. The outcome of the battle was something not even she had expected, as she and her army held the line against these devouring, hungry things, and forced them backwards those long fifteen miles into Oblivion.

Her hands clenched together as she walked as she remembered coming home from that battle. She was tired and wounded as she came home with the remnants of her force, though exhultant. They had won. There was a terrible price they paid, but they had won.

That was the reason she felt so little remorse for turning rogue, as she supposed she was now. She had returned to her Lord's castle and received derision and torture for her "failure" of losing so much of her force to an enemy five times her army's size. She had fought harder than she ever had in her life, knowing that the price of failure was torture and death at the hands of either the Yozi force, or her own Lord if she managed to return. However, she'd won, and was still tortured afterwards. Her anger over this had been the first thing to show through the stone-like emotional armor she wore, and had paved the way for other things now, as well.

That was the important question - if she could go back and take her place once more, would she? She had to admit that neither yes nor no came upon her instantly, though she knew she was definately leaning toward the negative.

She looked to the path ahead, through the slowly descending evening air, and saw a town in the distance, the setting sun illuminating the town from behind. She glanced to her left, observing Kale striding purposefully toward the town, and saw him slow to a stop. She stopped as well, and looked at him expectantly, hoping he would explain his decision to stop. Thankfully, she wasn't disappointed.

"I just realized. You can't sleep in a proper inn, can you?" He looked at her, somewhat bemused by this realization.

She shook her head. "You go right ahead, I'll sleep out here." This was the first time in quite a while that she'd felt as if she were...a liability to someone else.

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Nah, I'm not that mean. Let's go to the tavern and see what news there is, and we can make camp outside town afterwards."

Why was he being so accommodating? Her eyes narrowed slightly, before giving voice to her suspicions. "Do you think I'm unable to care for myself, that you have to look after me? Or is it that I'm of better use to you close by?"

He closed his eyes and sighed before opening his eyes again. He began to look exasperated. "Why are you being so constantly suspicious? It seems like every time I'm polite or courteous, you suspect me of trying to sell you into slavery, or something equally foul."

She raised an eyebrow of her own, looking into his eyes. "Aren't you?"

From the way his mouth hung open for a moment, his eyes open wide in shock it seemed as if he was either a remarkably good actor, or was genuinely hurt and annoyed. "No! No, I'm not trying to sell you to anyone, I'm not planning on stabbing you in your sleep, I'm not planning on forcing myself upon you, I'm not planning on robbing you, I'm not helping you for any other reason other than I was asked to by someone I've grown to trust. Okay?"

He crossed his arms, and turned to the side, not looking at her, staring instead at the town ahead. The expression on his tanned skin was cold, and with more than a hint of anger.

Rosethorne tilted her head to the side slightly, as she normally did when curious, and thinking about something. She spoke up again, this time with no suspicion in her voice. "Who?"

His gaze whipped back toward her, and he spoke with a clipped voice. "What?"

She repeated her question, in a slightly softer tone. "Who asked you to help me, and why?"

He closed his eyes, and rubbed one hand over his face, looking quite tired suddenly. He finished shortly, and looked at her with a slightly hunted look. "You'd never believe me if I told you. Please just drop it, okay?"

She kept looking at him calmly, and steadily. There had to be something else. "Is there another reason?"

He turned to look at her, a little surprised. His look of surprise quickly turned into another tired look. He seemed to answer reluctantly. "Yeah."

She just stared at him expectantly. "Well?"

Kale looked slightly annoyed now. "You remind me of a childhood friend, okay?"

A childhood friend, hmm? Interesting. "Which reason is the main one?"

He took another deep breath before answering. "Because the person whom I've grown to trust asked me to. The reason I don't have too much of a problem with it is because you remind me of that childhood friend, and because you don't get on my nerves." In a softer tone of voice, he added, "Much."

He turned to look her again in the eyes, looking calmer now. "Okay, I've answered your question. Now for mine: why are you willing to tag along and let me help you as I have?"

Rosethorne blinked. She hadn't expected that, though she supposed she should have, especially given who was asking the question. "Simply because you offered your help, and haven't given reason to distrust you yet. I'm still waiting for you to give me a reason to not trust you."

Kale raised an eyebrow of his own, looking slightly shocked. "What, you want me to steal your clothes while you sleep or something?"

As much as she tried to suppress it, a smile began to play around the corners of her mouth. "Yes, that would be a good start. Though rest assured, such a thing would not go unpunished."

He looked a bit more calm now, after seeing her reaction. A smile began around the corners of his mouth as well, now. "You mean, I'd be chased around the night-time countryside by a naked woman? People might think I stole more than your clothes."

She chuckled silently, her shoulders and chest shaking as she did so. Well, that was one good thing about this strange man: he made her laugh. "If that were the case, I'd take back more than my clothes from you."

He nodded knowingly, still smiling slightly. "I completely understand. My clothes would probably fit you better than my father's do."

She shook her head at him, still smiling and chuckling slightly. "Shall we just go, and continue this conversation later?"

He nodded, giving her a lopsided smile as he turned back to the road and began walking again, keeping pace with her.

It was curious, he didn't seem to be faking any of his emotions, and hadn't lied to her yet, as far as she could tell. Why, though? Well, she wouldn't give him her trust, it was simple as that. It would be far easier to deal with him later when he betrayed her, as everyone else seemed to have done. It was curious though, how he seemed to be so reluctant to say much about who had asked him to save her life, and why. Why was he trying to hide this?

She decided to think about this later, as they reached the town gates. She hid a smile as she saw the two guards at the gate, remembering what happened the last time she had last seen guards in front of a town's gates. Had it only been a few days?

"Halt, and state your business in Ayodha." The guard sounded far more bored than officious.

Kale stepped forward, smiling. "Hey, Gab. My friend and I wanted to spend an hour or two in the tavern before moving on again."

The guard who'd spoken looked a bit more closely at Kale, before breaking into a smile of recognition. "Well hello, Kale! It's been a while, what're you doing here?" He looked at Rosethorne, giving her a brief and curious look. "And who's your lady friend?"

Kale smirked. "She and I are just here to see the sights before moving on again tonight."

The guard, whose name apparently was Gab, chuckled. "What's the matter, the lady doesn't want to spend the night in a bed?"

Kale smiled again. "Something like that, yeah."

Both guards broke into laughter. "She sounds like she's perfect for ya, Kale. Go right in, and have a drink on me!"

Kale chuckled, and walked inside, Rosethorne walking at his side, trying her best not to glare at him until out of earshot of the guards. Kale turned around, and waved at the guards who'd let them in. "Thanks again, Gabrin. See ya around!"

The moment they were out of earshot, Rosethorne grabbed his arm and spun him around to face her, her ice-blue eyes boring angrily into his dark brown ones. She spoke softly, but with a heavy undercurrent of anger. "What have you to gain by making them think you and I are friends, let alone lovers? Why didn't you bother to correct them?"

Kale gently grabbed her hand, looking her in the eyes, holding her hand briefly before letting it drop at her side. She was again momentarily surprised by how warm his hands were. "For one thing, explaining how you and I came to know each other would take a lot longer than how long we spent talking to them. You and I both know we're not friends, or anything more, and I didn't say anything differently. They just assumed, and let the matter drop."

She still felt a little angry about this. "Why didn't you just tell them that we aren't together?"

He raised an eyebrow. "We're not?"

She took a breath, which helped to calm her. "I meant romantically involved, as they seemed to assume."

He chuckled quietly, looking briefly back at the guards. "Because if we'd stayed and I told them that, we would have been there much longer than we were, attracting that much more attention to ourselves. Besides, those two think I've nailed every single woman in this town and a few others."

Her eyes narrowed slightly at him. "Have you?"

He looked at her, uncomprehending. "Have I what?"

She began to feel a little annoyed. "Have you been romantically involved with every single woman in this town and beyond?"

He looked a little amused at her question, before looking a little sheepish. "No. Not even close."

She just raised an eyebrow, staring into his eyes with arms crossed. He rolled his eyes at her. "Why the sudden interest into my love life?"

She continued staring at him for a moment before answering. "Curiosity." From what Rosethorne had seen, he hadn't stared at her in a way to suggest that he was interested in her, or anything else silly and pointless. But she had seen a strange look in his eyes from time to time, suggesting there was something he was thinking about that was more than what was mentioned.

He smiled slightly. "Fine, I'll answer, but you have to answer your own question. Fair's fair."

She tilted her head slightly to the side, her arms still crossed. "Very well. After we conclude our business here and find a place to sleep, I'll tell you."

He shrugged in acknowledgement. "Alright."

They walked together into the tavern. Rosethorne, having never been into a bar or a tavern was quite surprised to see him willingly remove his bow, quiver and sword, and hang them on a simple wooden peg. He looked at her without saying anything, though the message was pretty obvious. She reluctantly untied her scimitar from around her waist, and hung it and her claw and gauntlet with it on the peg next to the one that held his weapons.

He smiled slightly, and indicated she walk in front of him into the tavern. She shrugged and did so, finding a relatively quiet place in the back, and beginning to walk toward it. She was halfway there when she heard someone hailing her companion.

"Kale? Kale! Is that you?"

She turned around to look at her companion and the person who'd hailed him, seeing that the gruff and deep voice belonged to an older man, with silvering and thinning hair. Kale smiled in recognition. "Drannid! How've you been?"

The man stood up, and clasped Kale's hand, his craggy face breaking into a grin. "Aye lad, I've been better, but I've been a lot worse, too. Come, sit down! The lass with ye is more than welcome to share the table of this old soldier as well." He chuckled, sitting down, and indicating the two seats near him.

Kale sat down in the chair next to the man, Rosethorne sitting in the other available chair, across the small tavern table from the old soldier.

Kale extended a hand toward her, and introduced them. "Drannid, this is my friend Rosethorne. She and I are just travelling where our feet take us for now. Rosethorne, this is my father's old friend Drannid. They served together in the 317th Immaculate Talon."

Rosethorne nodded to the old soldier, and was somewhat surprised to see him stand and extend a hand to her. She extended her right hand, and he clasped it in a warm and kindly handshake. "I'm pleased tae meet ye, lass. Anyone Kale calls friend is a friend of mine."

She nodded, and glanced quickly at Kale before replying. "Likewise. I'm pleased to meet you as well." She took her seat once more.

Rosethorne shifted her senses to perceive the flows of essence more easily, and found none swirling within the grizzled old soldier. A human who willingly served in an army of Dragon-Blooded. Very curious, she thought.

"Ah'm right glad to see ye, lad. I heard about what happened tae Thorns, and after not hearing from ye or yer mater and pater for seven years, I admit tae gettin' a bit worried."

Kale looked down, staring at the table, his face emotionless. "They...died. The Contagion took my mom, and my dad died seven years later, after making sure I was ready to be alone."

The grizzled old campaigner shook his head. "Did ye do that ritual that's supposed tae make sure the dead rest in peace?"

Kale nodded, still downcast at the memory, apparently unaware that Rosethorne was looking at him curiously for lamenting the passing of the living. It was the natural order of things. Wasn't it? He paused a moment before replying. "Yeah, my father performed the ritual on my mom after she died, and I did the ritual for him after he passed."

Why was there such pain in his eyes as he spoke about this? What was this "Contagion" he spoke of, the capital letter in the name evident even in his speech?

Drannid nodded, equally downcast. "Ah remember yer pater well, lad. Kreegan was one of the best soldiers I've ever fought with, an' that's no lie. We were all a bit surprised when his tour o' duty was up, and he didn't re-enlist. He jus' grabbed his new wife, said goodbye tae all of us, and left without so much as a backward glance."

Drannid shook his head, lost in the memory. "Ah can understand why he did, though. Alia was the best thing tae ever happen tae him, and he knew it. He knew that he didn't want her as an old war wife, waitin' for her husband to nae come home one day from a campaign."

Drannid looked briefly at Rosethorne, and back to Kale before smiling slightly. "Ah'm glad tae see ye safe, lad. I've been hearin'...things happening around that ol' rickety cabin you three called home. They say Thorns has been taken over by a bunch of...undead things, the likes of which haven't been seen aroun' these parts for decades."

He looked around, to make sure there would be nobody to overhear them. Satisfied that he had seen none, he continued in a lower voice. "They say there's somethin' worse out there, somethin' the Immaculate Guard still hasn't found. From the whispers Ah've heard from the soldiers who've come through here, there's been a shadow...thing loose. Whatever it is, it led a large army of skeletons and rotting corpses that fought madly against two Talons of the Immaculate Guard, the second being all Dragon-Blooded soldiers, hard-nosed blighters at that. They say that though the undead army was decimated by the second Talon, who luckily had a few sorcerers in their ranks, the shadow thing that led them still managed tae slay half o' them by itself, including both sorcerers before one o' the soldiers managed to land a hit on it with his mace. They never found where it fell though, an' they scoured the canyon for days, lookin' for footprints, drag marks, anythin', but hadn't found a single trace."

Drannid sat back, shaking his head as he took a sip of his tankard. "The talk amongst the foot soldiers is tha' it jus' melted back intae the shadows from which it came, but the higher-ups ain't so sure. They felt it use essence during the battle, and lots of it. They think it was an Anathema, and one of the darker ones at that."

He shook his head as he took another small pull from his tankard. Rosethorne, for her part, was keeping a straight face with valiant effort. She hadn't known that she had slain a full half of the second Talon, but then again, she hadn't been keeping count.

"The worst part is that they haven't found the Anathema yet, and it has them scared. They won't admit it in public or anythin', but an undead emiss'ry from Thorns came tae the camp outside the town where the Immaculates have the undead within bottled up, and politely asked what they'd like in exchange for one o' their fallen generals. The Immaculate Guard said they didn't have any prisoners, and the thing thanked them politely and went back into town."

Drannid shook his head, and took a deep breath. "So, whatever it is seems tae be loose, an' unaccounted for." He chuckled sourly. "It seems tae be one thing the accursed undead and the Guard have in common - they're both a little concerned that one of the undead generals is missing."

Kale chuckled slightly at the joke, and Rosethorne smiled ruefully at the irony. The old campaigner leaned back in his chair, smiling now. "Ach, enough o' doom an' gloom this eve. There're enough things tae depress ye for life, if ye keeps yer mind on 'em. How'd ye meet this lass, Kale?" He grinned at the both of them, glancing between the two.

Kale blushed slightly. "I met her a few days ago, actually. I saved her life, and she's just tagging along with me until she figures out where she wants to go."

The old man smiled at Rosethorne, his craggy face splitting into a grin. "Ah saw ye carryin' a blade intae the tavern, lass. Can ye use it well?"

Rosethorne met his gaze, staring at him evenly. "Oh, I can use it. The only reason I needed him to save my life was because I got overwhelmed."

The old campaigner chuckled again. "Ah don' mean any insult, lass. Ye look like the type of woman who's used to a blade. Min' if Ah sees yer weapon hand?"

She smiled slightly. "Which one?"

Drannid roared with laughter. "A fiesty one! Yer swordhand, lass."

She smiled a bit wider, and placed her pale hand on the table, palm-up. Drannid looked at it carefully, nodding once he was done. "Aye, that be the hand of one used tae a blade, alright." He laughed a bit more. "Ah I haven't seen callouses like that on half the soldiers Ah've fought with!"

Rosethorne smiled, and nodded graciously. "Thank you."

Kale stood, smiling at both of them. "Sorry Drannid, but she and I really have to get going, before they lock the gates for the night."

Drannid grinned, and stood himself, offering his hand to both Kale and Rosethorne, shaking both their hands warmly. "Kale, lad, Ah'm right glad tae see you're alive and well. Rosethorne, lass, Ah'm honored tae meet ye. Fare ye both well."

They both wished him goodnight, Kale buying him another tankard of beer before they left the town. The guards were unfamiliar to Kale, and inquired why they wanted to leave so late. Kale's answer that they needed to get an early start on their journey seemed to satisfy them, and the guards let them pass into the plains beyond.

They had walked in silence for nearly half an hour, the descending darkness not bothering either of them unduly. Rosethorne was turning over the evening's conversation she'd had with Kale's father's companion in arms, thinking more about this "Contagion" that had claimed his parents, and many more, if she caught the implication correctly. She had known that before she had been Exalted, the Mask of Winters had done something to soften the town up for later conquest, though she never found out what. Now, she had a definate suspicion. It made tactical sense to her for such a thing, though it was a bit dishonorable.

Her companion was growing more and more strange, and a bit more intriguing as well as the days passed. There seemed to always be another mystery to him, another puzzle to solve with him. Well, if nothing else, it helped pass the time they spent walking.

Kale stopped abruptly, with her smoothly following suit, and looking askance at him.

"Half of a Talon by yourself?" The look on his face was a mixture of surprise and shock.

She just smiled at him, and continued walking.

Half a Talon. That's about one hundred fifty soldiers. Kale blinked and shook his head slightly as he walked, still trying to get over the shock of it. He certainly hadn't known she'd managed to get a body count that high, but then again, it was a little hard to keep track during the battle.

And yet here was the same woman, dressed in casual, dark-colored clothes that once belonged to his father, her long ebon hair flowing gently behind her like a short cloak, her ice-blue eyes darting in all directions as she kept her head firmly facing front.

But on the other hand, there were many other facets to this woman, as he'd come to see. He'd glanced over at her before as they walked, seeing her staring off into the distance, her mind really not on the path ahead. From her subtle body language, she seemed to be lost in thought quite often. Her hands would clench and unclench as she did so, as if remembering something that angered her, though she never spoke of anything.

On the other hand, she seemed to be nearly paranoid of anyone using or abusing her, which explained her aloofness toward him, and everyone else she'd met. Well, given the company she kept before he met her that fateful night, Kale had an inkling of why she felt as she did, especially if those two Abyssals were any indication.

He smelled the wild sage as they walked in silence, mixed in with fainter scents of ferns, and evergreen shrubs on the plains, mixed with the boring smell of grass.

Night had fully fallen on the plains outside the town of Ayodha. The moon was hiding her face this evening, revealing the delicate stream of stars in the sky above, forming a soft band of stars that continued across the sky. He stopped, his face to the sky, just admiring the view, and trying to remember the old traveller's constellations his father taught him, and beginning to find them.

He heard her footsteps come to a halt soon after his did. He didn't look at her at first, as he'd almost found the Spear, the Father Lion, The Lion Cub, and a few others. He looked down to see his companion after a moment, seeing her face to the sky as well. The stars faintly illuminated her pale face, which seemed to be surrounded by a shadowy cloak of her long, straight ebon hair. She looked down and over toward him after a few moments, giving him a look he couldn't quite decipher. She spoke in a off-hand way. "Is here where we should make camp?"

He nodded, pulling off his satchel and grabbing his bedroll. "You know, I have a love/hate relationship with the plains country. I love the plains because you can see for miles in every direction."

She nodded as she pulled out her own bedroll, and began unrolling it on the soft earth. She looked up at him after a moment, a slight hint of curiosity on her face. "And why do you hate the plains?"

He smiled, as she had walked neatly into his trap. "I hate them because you can see for miles in every direction. No fire tonight, I'm afraid."

She smirked as she removed her armored shoes and lay down on her bedroll, staring up into the sky. Kale rolled his eyes. "Sure, I'll take first watch."

She didn't move her eyes from the sky above, seemingly fascinated in the patterns the tiny pinpricks of light made in the night-time heavens above. "I'm not going to sleep yet," she said in a somewhat distracted voice.

He shrugged, and squinted his eyes in every direction. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he relaxed a little, and took off his overcoat. Looking to his right, and seeing her eyes now closed, he relaxed a little more. He decided to grab his new sword, and practice with it a bit. As usual, it grew and altered form as he drew it from its sheath, forming into a sword very similar to the large no-daichi his father had trained him with.

He studied the blade, now solid in form. He studied the elegant, slowly curving single-edged blade, and how it joined the small hilt and long handle at the perfect length and weight. He walked a few yards away from where his companion slept, and began practicing with it.

Slash forward, follow through, slash at the shoulder, follow through, slash behind, come to a ready stance. It seemed to be nearly a reflex now, to follow through with this pattern. Slash up, bring the blade around, slash back down, follow through, slash at the neck, follow through, come to a ready stance. His body continued these motions automatically, as his mind drifted.

He saw an image of Melia's smiling face in his mind's eye, and smiled inwardly. He realized that he hadn't really even thought much about Melia, or her surprising silence for the past few days, being more immediately concerned for the bloodthirsty (literally) Abyssal who now seemed to be his companion.

"Hey, you."

He smiled a bit wider now, and replied in his mind. "Hello yourself. Why've you been so silent?"

He got an image of her smiling softly, and then saw an image of the sleeping Abyssal in his mind's eye. "You've been quiet because of...her?"

A warm feeling. This was certainly confusing. "Okay, why?"

There was a pause, and then he saw an image of Rosethorne from a little further away. His vision seemed to shift, to perceive the flows of essence, and he saw the dark, shadowy essence flowing slowly through her, seeming to chill her body like ice water. He looked a little closer, and saw a ghostly outline of...another shadowy thing within her, vaguely humanoid-shaped. The darker essence seemed to flow in and out of this second thing. Kale's jaw dropped, as he saw a brief flash of a bright golden glow from part of the second being, before it was concealed once again by shadow.

At first, he didn't quite understand what he was seeing. However, the more he looked, and studied the imagery, it began to make sense. "The second...thing in her, is that her Essence?"

A warm feeling. "So, it hasn't bonded to her completely, I take it?"

Another warm feeling. "Okay, what's that brief flash of gold I keep seeing every once in a while on her Essence, through the shadows?"

A brief image of the morning sun.

He was confused for a moment, but then his eyes widened in realization as he finished the first kata again without even being aware of it. "You mean...her Essence is a little bit Solar?"

A cold feeling. He got an image of a small, glowing sun, suddenly smothered by shadows, and dark material. The material was wet, and seemed to seep into the small glowing ball of golden light, dimming it, changing it into something much darker. However, the shadows and dark material couldn't completely conceal and consume the glowing light.

His eyes narrowed in confusion. "Is that normal, for an Abyssal? Do their Essences always retain some of their former Solar selves?"

A cold feeling. "...Oh." He paused for a moment. "You mean that there are three reasons you're so pleased I'm still letting her tag along?"

A feeling of...curiosity. Questioning.

He struggled to put what he felt and saw into speech-like thoughts. "Well, you mentioned that this lady's Essence is your husband, after he was corrupted and became an Abyssal Essence, right?"

A warm feeling.

"Okay, and secondly, her Essence hasn't bonded to her and let itself go after the five years she's been Exalted, right?"

Another warm feeling, accompanied by a brief image of Melia smiling. Roguishly.

"And lastly, he hasn't been completely corrupted, is that right?"

Another warm feeling, this time accompanied by her smiling warmly at him. Proudly, even.

His eyes narrowed as he began the second kata with his sword again without really even realizing it. "Is there another reason you encouraged me to stay with her, and save her life?"

He heard her familiar chuckling. "You stayed with her on your own, Kale, just as I hoped you would."

Kale began to feel a bit manipulated. "Wait a minute..."

She interrupted, with a calming and slightly apologetic voice. "What I mean is, I have more reasons than just those. She is...familiar to you, in a way I cannot say. Your subconscious mind recognizes her, though."

His eyebrows knitted together as he thought furiously. Was this why she reminded him of a childhood friend he had known long ago? He couldn't remember much about that little girl he had known as a child, which began to bother him. He remembered being so sad that she and her family were leaving. He also remembered running after her family's caravan, waving goodbye as they left. It was the first time he had ever really cried, that he could remember. But why couldn't he remember more?

"Have you been practicing your form the entire time I've been asleep?" Her low voice seemed to break through his concentration, causing him to slow, and stop, before quite realizing why he had, until Rosethorne spoke again.

"I don't mean to nitpick on your form, but you've been doing the same two katas for the past two hours." There was a hint of...amusement in her voice.

Kale shrugged, nonchalantly. "It helps me think."

She sat up, nodding as she looked at him calmly and steadily. "I can't sleep. Its too...bright out here." She paused a moment, looking at him with her head slightly tilted to the side. "Spar with me."

Kale looked at her, raising an eyebrow, before shrugging in resignation. He removed his bracer from his left arm, and threw it on his opened bedroll. She looked askance at him, but he only shrugged. "Making things fair, is all." She nodded, giving the bracer one last curious look before unsheathing her scimitar and standing in one fluid motion. She strode purposefully toward him, until they were five feet away, her bare feet making slight rustling noises in the slightly wet grass around them. She looked him calmly in the eyes before asking. "Rules?"

He thought for a moment, before hiding a smile as he came to a realization. "Alright, stop at first blood each time. The person drawing the blood may ask the person so blooded a question that must be answered fully, truthfully, and honestly."

Her eyebrows rose slightly, though she nodded in agreement before dropping smoothly into a strange ready stance, holding the blade in her right hand, the flat of the blade against her left shoulder. "Agreed. Anything else?"

Kale settled into his own ready stance, facing her from his side, the long blade resting lightly on his right shoulder, his left arm dangling at his side. "Yes. Rotes or Charms are off-limits. This is a contest of skill only."

Rosethorne nodded, and both stood motionless for a few seconds, waiting for the other person to make the first move. Neither did for what seemed like several long minutes, but Rosethorne took a quick hop forward, slashing out viciously with her scimitar. He managed to parry the strike by bringing his sword down on her neck, and parrying her backswing at the same time. A thin trickle of blood ran from her neck as he stood back, smiling. "Point."

She felt her neck, and frowned slightly. Kale was a little surprised, though not much, to see that there was no blood when she took her hand away. "Very well. Ask away."

He dropped back into a ready stance, and thought for a moment, and she looked impassively at him. There, that would be a good one to start with, since he didn't know how many more chances he'd get. "Why were you so concerned about those guards thinking that you and I were romantically involved?"

She tilted her head slightly to the side, pausing a moment before answering. "I was attempting to ascertain your intentions toward me; trying to see if you were trying to get me used to the idea before you tried something foolish. If you really had romantic relations with most of the women of the town and beyond, your intentions toward me would be more obvious."

Kale chuckled at this, which she raised an eyebrow at. "Alright, ready?" She nodded, her eyes not leaving his. She sprang forward again like a hungry wolf, which he parried desperately. It was a little difficult to see her blade in the darkness, as the blade she wielded did not reflect light of any kind, looking like a grim corporeal shadow in the night-time gloom. He parried quickly and desperately, thinking he was safe and keeping up with her for the moment, before she sprang back, with a slightly triumphant look on her face. He felt a little...drained as well. Rosethorne smirked at him. "Point."

Kale's eyebrows raised slightly, and he couldn't help but ask. "Where did you hit me?"

Rosethorne's eyes looked at his neck, before looking back into his eyes, and smiling a bit more widely. He felt his neck, and felt a thin, shallow cut on his neck, on the exact same place he had managed to cut her the first time. His eyes narrowed. Oh, she was good, alright. "Alright, what's your question?"

Her head tilted slightly to the side as she maintained eye contact with him. Her neck straightened as she answered. "What is this 'Great Contagion' you mentioned that took your parents to their rest?"

Kale narrowed his eyes at her, suspicious. "You worked for the guy who did it. I thought you knew already."

She shook her head. "It was released seven years ago, was it not?"

Kale nodded, still suspicious.

She regarded him calmly as she explained. "I've been an Abyssal for the past five years. It happened before my time, and I'd never heard anything about it until last night."

He nodded, thinking about all he knew about the sickness that had stolen the life from his mother, and the will to live from his father. He closed his eyes and took a breath to clear his mind before he answered. "As far as I was told, there were two that were released. One, at the beginning of the Second Age, spread throughout the world and claimed nine out of every ten people."

Kale paused, as he kept his voice steady. "The second time was around Thorns, about seven years ago. My mother caught it, and withered away so quickly. My father lost his will to live afterwards, making sure that I was ready and educated enough to deal with things on my own before he joined my mother in death."

Her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Kale could tell there was another question on the tip of her tongue, but she witheld it. "Ready?"

He nodded, and relaxed a bit more into his ready stance. Just as she seemed to dive toward him, he darted quickly to the side, and clipped her on the other side of her neck. She stopped, and felt the blood again, and whirled around, looking slightly annoyed. She took her hand away after a moment, and Kale was no longer surprised to see that there was no blood. "I didn't expect that. Your question?"

He smiled slightly as he asked the question that had been bothering him ever since she agreed to come along with him. "You've mentioned your suspicions about me and my motives many times, though you never really mentioned why you're willing to come along with me anyway. Why is that?"

She smiled tightly. "I told you, I still owe you my life. Until that debt is repaid, I'm willing to journey with you." She paused for a moment, as if making a decision. "I was and still am suspicious of your motives in helping me as you have, though you've given me no reason to distrust you. Finally, your nature intrigues me."

Kale looked a little surprised at her frankness, though he was privately pleased to see that she was, at least, playing by the rules. They quickly settled back into their stances, and prepared for another round. It was over with swiftly, with him suddenly on his back, the point of her blade under his chin. She was smiling slightly, as she uttered the word. "Point."

He got up, and dusted himself off as he waited for her question. He didn't have to wait long at all. "Why does the death of your parents wear on you so?"

Kale took a deep breath. Thinking about it, even now, was a little painful. "If they had died of natural causes, even by an accident or a normal illness, it wouldn't have hurt me so much. Knowing that the illness that claimed by mother directly and my father indirectly had been created and loosed intentionally makes it much worse." He looked at her steadily. "And knowing that it was your former boss that did it makes me angry, and has made me suspect your motives."

She nodded, staring off into space briefly, as she digested this. She nodded after a moment, and assumed a ready stance again, Kale following suit. They closed again in a blur of orichalcum and soulsteel, which ended with a slashing lunge from her that hit nothing but air, with his blade resting against her neck once again. He smiled grimly, knowing that he was going to have to make his successes count. "Point."

Rosethorne sighed softly, glaring at him slightly before she rested the point of her scimitar in the dirt, looking at him expectantly. He thought for a moment, somewhat curious as to why she hadn't asked about who had asked him to help her, and other questions he'd evaded her on in their brief past. "What's the reason you seem so taken with the idea of not going back to your boss, aside from owing me your life?"

She looked at the stars above while taking a deep, silent breath. Rosethorne's gaze returned to meet him in the eyes as she answered, haltingly at first. "The battle I was in before I came to the surface is the reason I don't really wish to go back."

Rosethorne looked at the stars again, as if searching for answers in the faint starlight that illuminated her pale face. "My battalion was ordered to halt a Yozi advancement into my Lord's lands. When we arrived, we saw quickly that they outnumbered us five to one. I was the only Exalt in my battalion, though there were ten amongst their foul and carniverous ranks. We fought for hours; I was fighting harder than I ever had before in my life." She paused again, as if lost in the memory for a moment. "We won. We paid a terrible price; only a third of my battalion remained alive afterwards. But we won."

She looked him in the eyes again. She looked...tired from the memory. "When I returned, I was called a failure for losing so many troops, and tortured for it."

Kale's jaw dropped, his eyes open wide at the thought. His jaw snapped shut once he realized he was gaping, and shook his head wonderingly. "Is that normal for where you used to live?"

She smiled tightly at him. "You'll need to score another mark on me if you want to ask that and get an answer."

He nodded, and dropped into a ready stance once more. This continued for several more hours, though he could count on two hands the number of times he'd scored a point after that. Curiously, she'd left the question of who had asked him to help her unasked, though she did ask him about many other things.

Kale had also discovered that every time she scored a mark on him, the soulsteel of her scimitar drained a little bit of his essence. He'd found out that in the hands of an Abyssal, this was normal for soulsteel. That thought made him shudder slightly, though it made sense, given what she told him about how Children of Oblivion couldn't really eat or regain their essence in the lands above, relying on other methods to keep themselves sated.

Part of the reason he'd scored so few marks on her, despite his natural agility, was because she began licking his blood off her blade after she'd scored a mark on him, her eyes meeting his as she did so. Kale admitted that part of him was a little intrigued by it, but for the most part, it was just outright creepy. He also suspected that she kept doing it because she knew it rattled him. Evil wench.

However, as the sun was beginning to illuminate the Eastern horizon, he had managed to score a hit on her. She looked surprised, though expectantly waited for him to ask his question. He took his time, weighing his options, which he knew made her impatient. Finally, he asked. "You've mentioned honor a few times. What value do you place on honor?"

Rosethorne regarded him steadily through her ice-blue eyes, a few strands of her ebon hair covering part of one eye. "Honor is the most important thing. After all is said and done, how honorable a person is dictates how they should be treated by others."

She glanced at the Western horizon, which was beginning to brighten with the impending sunrise. She smirked slightly. "So much for sleeping in shifts."

He nodded, smiling slightly. "Want to call it quits for now?" He wasn't about to admit it out loud, but he was tired. Despite needing less sleep than before, sleeping was still one of the comforts of life that he loved very much, and being deprived of it made him irritable.

She regarded him curiously for a moment, with her head tilted slightly to the side before nodding. "Take your rest. I'll wake you in six hours."

He raised an eyebrow at this, and she gave him a slightly amused look. "No harm shall come to you while you slumber. You have my word."

Kale nodded. He didn't really trust her, despite how much he'd learned about her and her way of life in the Underworld. However, it was either extending a measure of trust to her and hope she didn't abuse it, or leave her alone on the plains as he took his rest where he knew he would be safe.

He sighed, and took off his boots and weapons before moving into his bedroll, and putting a spare shirt of his over his eyes to block out the sun. Just to make sure, he used a little bit of essence to act as a stronger sixth sense, waking him if someone near where he slept intended him harm. He hoped it worked.

Her scimitar hungered again, reflecting her own inner need. Her blade had tasted blood again, and to maintain her close link with the semi-intelligent scimitar, she had empathized with it by tasting the blood it had tasted as well. It almost seemed to vibrate with greed for more; for more essence, for more of the life-giving red liquid. It had been a while since she had really felt sated; the night where the five Immaculate fools had pressed the issue of her honor being the most recent time in her memory. She put her hunger out of her mind, for now.

Over the years, Rosethorne had learned quite a bit about the properties of the lifeblood thrumming within the living. More than the living truly realized, the blood carried with it their basic emotions felt at the time the blood was taken, and sometimes thoughts as well. She reflected back on how Kale's had tasted: powerful and skilled, though innocent. Wonder mixed with sadness, amusement tempered with curiosity, discomfort melded with a drive to explore and learn. She hadn't felt or tasted any duplicity from him. Despite her suspicions, he didn't seem to have an ulterior motive regarding her. In fact, he seemed to be accepting the situation more as surprise to adapt to, rather than a situation or person to use for his own ends. Was this a weakness, really? He didn't seem the type to exploit others for his own ends; in fact, he was amusingly uncomfortable not with the essence thrumming through his body, but with all that the essence implied and entailed. He was even slightly uncomfortable with the idea of killing, no matter the reason.

Rosethorne slowly polished and sharpened the blade, seemingly crafted of cold and distilled midnight as she thought. She was sitting cross-legged near where the Solar slept, keeping her eyes on her surroundings automatically. She looked at him with a note of curiosity as he lay cradled in the arms of sleep, one of his shirts wrapped around his eyes to prevent the bright sun from intruding on his dreams. He was breathing slowly, quietly, his right hand twitching slightly on his chest as he dreamed. She smiled slightly. Given his monkey-like tendencies, he'd probably be more comfortable sleeping in a tree.

He had aquiesced to the idea of sleeping for a few hours as she stood watch, though the warring sides of the decision were plainly visible in his eyes before he agreed. Did he agree because he foolishly trusted her? No, that didn't make sense, given his actions toward her. Could it be that he was saying yes as a gesture of trust toward her? To be willing to sleep near her to show that he was willing to trust her? That made more sense, and seemed much more likely. She had given him small overtures of trust before, by being willing to be clothed by garments left over from his parents, among other things.

So, it seemed to be deliberate, just as her actions had been. Both of them were on their guard around each other, but it seemed that both of them had realized trust could help more than it could hurt. They both seemed to know that only fools offer their trust freely. She smiled slightly. He was clever, though not as impulsive as she had first thought.

This strange young man was an enigma, it seemed. He was still practically a newborn Exalt, though he had an innate talent for channeling his essence properly. It had taken her two years to learn to comfortably channel her essence; the way he seemed to do almost as an afterthought. He was also quite good with that ungainly cleaver he called a sword. He had surprised her quite a few times with how deftly his blade had blooded her. Though she got a feel for how he fought after a little while and managed to beat him soundly, he still managed to tag her once more before they agreed to quit. It almost seemed that he had offered to stop as an exclaimation point to his strike. Rosethorne smirked at this thought.

She stared off to the Western horizon, seeing the sun greet the world once more. Though at first she had despised the sun for its uncomfortable brightness, she had come to enjoy seeing it. Of course, she could never admit this, especially considering the nature of the Essence within her, so she treasured these recent moments in silence. Though Oblivion and the life-giving light of the sun seemed diametrically opposed, it had been many years since she had seen a sunrise. It seemed to strike a chord within her, though she couldn't say how or why.

As she stared at the slowly-brightening horizon, her thoughts drifted from their sparring to what she had learned about and from him as a result. His idea of asking questions as a victory note was an interesting one, and one that helped her learn quite a bit about this man. Given his rule about full and truthful answers and how she hadn't detected any falsehoods from him, what she had learned intrigued her.

She hadn't asked the questions that bothered her most, however. The questions that still remained unasked were regarding who had asked him to help her in the first place, and why he had accepted her offer of being his retainer, on the condition that she follow him not as a blade, but as a companion. His reluctance to answer in the past had given her pause, helping her reach the decision to leave those questions unspoken until the time seemed right. Bringing them up during a light-hearted contest of skill such as that seemed...a little impersonal for the nature of the questions. It seemed strange, but it also had to do with the slowly-growing respect she had for him. It had certainly been a while since she had felt or been given respect without fear being entwined with it.

Rosethorne had learned quite a bit about the man from all the times she had lightly split his flesh, however. She smirked to herself as she finished sharpening and polishing her scimitar. Though she wasn't really trying during the repeated duels, the inane urge to toy with him had asserted itself, coming out in the form of her licking her blade clean of his blood after scoring a mark on him. She remembered being somewhat coy about it a couple times, meeting his slightly shocked gaze through half-lidded eyes as she slowly licked his blood from her blade. Though she kept a straight face, it amused her to no end how much it seemed to rattle him. For a time, she was scoring points on him round after round less to ask a pointed question than to see his reaction after he'd been marked.

Rosethorne's shoulders shook as she chuckled silently. Seeing the look on his face the first time she had followed her impulse to do so was outright priceless. Even so, she'd learned quite a bit about the young Solar, including that he hadn't even been Exalted for a year yet. She would have been highly tempted to look down her nose at this, but for the unassailable facts of his natural skill and ability to use the essence within him. He hadn't had the time to learn the rote ways of using it as much as she had, though what he did know, he used skillfully, subtly; almost eloquently. Given time, he would become someone whom others should take into account warily, carefully, and fearfully.

His confidence in his own abilities sprang from all the things he'd learned as an ordinary human. Rosethorne looked downcast as she went over what he had told her of his childhood once more. His father and mother both had loved him dearly; that much was obvious. Kale had learned honor, respect, and intensity from a young age, the other skills of a hunter following suit. The way he made no noise as he walked, his skill with archery, his ability to track and make his own footprints trackless were all natural skills. The Solar required no essence to achieve these effects because of this, and that silently spoke volumes about him. She had known Deathknights who quickly became drunk with the heady power their Exaltation gave them, who arrogantly believed that their newfound abilities could substitute for good old-fashioned skill, rather than being a natural conclusion of it.

Kale seemed as reluctant to use his own essence as she was, though it was for very different reasons, she had found out a short time ago. She had admitted her dislike of using it when she didn't need to, as it coursed through her body as ice water might. He, on the other hand, seemed uncomfortable with his own abilities; his own natural power as an Exalt being something he felt he must hide. It was more than simply being as inconspicuous as possible as they travelled, as he had claimed a few times, despite the Dragon-Blooded paranoia of any Exalts other than themselves. There was more to it than this, but she hadn't asked what it was about his own status as a Child of the Sun that seemed to embarass or shame him. She suspected Kale didn't know the reasons for this very well himself.

Rosethorne's mind drifted to introspection once more, as she thought about herself, and her own behavior as her companion slept nearby. She had laughed more than once in the past few days, something she could barely remember ever doing. For that matter, she had shown some of her emotions more and more over the past few days, something she hadn't done since a year after she Exalted. What was it about this man that made her feel safe enough to do so? Whatever it was, it made him dangerous. She knew that if he had even a slightly different personality, doing so would be an invitation for disaster. And yet, he hadn't judged her for doing so. He hadn't tried pushing her, cajoling her, or taunting her.

She smirked again. Well, apart from teasing her with no real malice meant, such as what he had said about "being introduced to the wrong ends of both mace and canyon wall," and retorting to her question about why he cooked his meat. If he did mean her harm, then he was being truly devious about hiding it. Her eyes narrowed slightly, as her smirk changed into a grim frown. However, pretending to be new to a situation and using one's pretended innocence as a tool of manipulation was an old trick. Not the oldest trick, but certainly one of the oldest. Though her heart felt some measure of peace and even a sense of...familiarity around him, her mind must be guarded. As her respect for his thoughts and actions slowly grew, she was careful to remain on her guard, and would remain so by necessity. After all, it had been her experience that nobody ever did a kindness for you unless they wanted something in return, though what they expected in return often was announced long afterward.

She looked at her sleeping companion again, his mouth open in a silent snore. Her task of cleaning and sharpening her weapons complete, she gazed silently at him, studying him as he slumbered. She had learned long ago that the most accurate way of deciphering a person's true personality was to watch them as they slept. Nightmares, unconscious movements, talking in their sleep; all these things were clues as to the personality normally hidden away while awake. Kale, however, had slept peacefully, his only movements being ones that made him more comfortable. Even the worries she had come to recognize as they crossed his face while he was awake were gone now. She smiled to herself. However, he really could use a shave. She doubted that he'd had much experience with a mirror.

She shook herself of her reverie, and studied the plains around them once more. The morning peace was disturbed only by an Immaculate patrol, but it was far off in the distance, and marching across the plains in a direction perpendicular to the two of them. This she considered a good thing, as she knew that though she was an eloquent speaker, this was the place Kale called home; he knew the customs, slang, and people around here far better than she. The ease with which he engaged in casual conversation had made her a little curious; she was far more used to giving or receiving orders, rather than the more equal terms a friendly conversation entailed.

Rosethorne's jaw set as she saw the patrol come to a halt, and as one look in her direction. She was quite tempted to wake Kale up, but that would be breaking her word to him. She had given her word of honor that he would sleep undisturbed for six hours, and he still had two hours left. She took a deep breath as she saw three of the soldiers break off from the main patrol and begin marching toward she and her sleeping companion.

Though she couldn't see into the distance quite as well as the Solar could, she could still make out details about the approaching soldiers. The one in the middle was slightly shorter than the other two, wore differently styled jade armor with no helmet, carried a long double-ended slashing spear, though there was a strange object strapped to the soldier's right leg. The other two were dressed in standard Immaculate infantry red jade heavy plate, with swords sheathed at their sides.

* * *

"Captain Altara, Corporals Byu, and Reinad, go check those two out. Move!"

Corporal Altara marched with and slightly ahead of the other two soldiers toward the strange pair on the plains. The new orders from on high were to check out anyone and everyone that seemed suspicious, which included any commoners rightfully leaving the area. It was a boring, thankless, and onerous job, but the reasons for it were valid: there was an Abyssal general missing in action, and it had evidently concerned the occupying undead force of Thorns so much that they actually made polite inquiries to the Immaculate guard about it.

No real information was available about this general; no name, no description. The only details she and her patrol were given was that this general was clad in all black, light-absorbing soulsteel armor. However, a helmet matching that description was found, along with a strange dust in a rough humanoid shape a few days ago, so the people in power were tentatively considering this general slain.

This bothered Captain Altara to a degree, as she knew that this general had slain quite a few of the soldiers all alone; a fact that the Immaculate hierarchy had attempted to keep quiet. Since the missing general had slain so many soldiers alone during the battle, Captain Ophelia Altara highly doubted that the general was laid low by five paltry green soldiers on patrol.

And yet, here she was, checking out two travellers leaving from the direction of Ayodha, heading southwest, and definately away from Thorns and all the occupying Immaculate force. Understandable, though the direction they were travelling seemed a little odd; wouldn't they try going north, where there was a stronger Immaculate presence?

She marched along, the Corporals marching one step behind her, as procedure dictated. She studied the two figured as she marched. One, a woman with black hair and pale skin sitting upright, near another figure, who was lying prone. The sitting woman stood as Captain Altara approached, and seemed to be watching the approaching patrol with an appropriate amount of wariness and calm. She hailed the woman as they approached.

"Good morning, citizen. I see you're leaving Ayodha; where are you two off to?"

The woman looked into her eyes, seeming to fix her in place with a cold ice-blue stare. She replied after a moment, however. "Good morning, soldier. My companion and I are headed South, though I know not our ultimate destination."

Captain Altara nodded as the woman spoke, studying her with calculated disinterest. "I see, and your companion does, I take it?"

The woman stared evenly into her eyes for a moment. "Yes, and he is still asleep for the moment."

The Captain looked over to where the other figure was lying. Whoever it was seemed tall, though they had a shirt of some form over their face. This would normally concern her, but she saw the regular gentle rise and fall of the figure's chest. "I see. And what are you to your companion?"

The woman arched a single eyebrow, as if silently questioning her audacity for such a question. "I am his retainer."

Captain Altara raised an eyebrow of her own, after seeing that though the woman carried two weapons, a sword and a claw-like weapon, she wore no armor. She was careful not to let her gaze linger on the weapons, though noticed that the woman's sheathed sword was all black, as was the claw. How strange...if this was the general, where was the rest of her armor and army? And why was she a retainer of a single person? Given their appearance, these two had probably taken the weapons from the fallen general, as they were relatively near the area where the general's corpse was reportedly found. "I see. Very well, then. May you both enjoy a pleasant journey."

She bowed to the woman with her right hand covering her left fist. It was an elaborate gesture, and un-necessary in this situation, but old habits died hard. To her surprise, the woman returned the gesture with grace. Captain Altara nodded once in silent respect, turned her heel, and marched away, followed in relative silence by the soldiers accompanying her.

She returned to her Commander, who flared his anima of reddish, dancing flames around him. She saluted, though did not invoke her own anima, which she hoped her Commander would overlook.

"Report!" He barked at her. She replied quickly, lest he look askance at her lack of anima.

Still saluting calmly, she reported. "Two travellers, leaving from Ayodha as suspected, travelling northwest, destination unknown. The woman is the other traveller's retainer, who was still asleep."

He returned her salute in dismissal, looking grimly at her. In this fashion, she was actually pleased that he was treating her no differently that he would any other soldier, despite whispers of her ancestry. She felt that she was who she was, and who her mother happened to be was of no consequence to her ability as a soldier.

* * *

As Rosethorne sat back down and looked down at her companion, she realized that Kale had his eyes open, peeping through the folds of his shirt. He began sleepily rubbing his eyes, and looked at her once more, noticing that she was staring quietly into his eyes. "What, do I have a bee on me?"

Rosethorne smirked, and shook her head as she continued looking at him. "No, a soldier from that Immaculate Patrol decided to see if we were harmless." Rosethorne shook her head. "She didn't ask me why I had a soulsteel blade, and you had what appears to be a jade one. Her commanding officer seems lenient; I would have upbraided her for it."

Kale chuckled as he sat up. "Yeah, she sounded like a yapping foghorn, alright." He paused in rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and turned swiftly to look at her once again. "Wait a minute...I just realized something."

Rosethorne looked at him with her head tilted slightly to the side now, curious.

He stared at her with wide-open eyes, and his mouth hanging open for a few moments. She began to grow a little uncomfortable, narrowing her eyebrows at him. He finally spoke. "The soldiers walked away from here unmarked and unharmed. Are you getting sick?"

Rosethorne didn't know whether to laugh, or punch him. She ended up doing neither, considering a wintry glare to be sufficient. She was rewarded with an unrepentant grin from Kale as they began packing up their things.

Kale was still smiling a little as the two of them broke camp. Rosethorne was certainly proving to be an interesting companion, and in a good way. His rote to alert him if anyone wished him harm had been nothing but silent during the time he slept, which allowed him to get some rather restful sleep. This also meant that Rosethorne took her word of honor seriously. She had seemed rather serious about it before, but Kale thought it nice to have it confirmed.

She looked as she normally did, for the most part. She had that stone-faced expression as usual, though the corners of her mouth were quirked upward very slightly. She was proving to be an interesting puzzle, as only a few days ago, she seemed quite loathe to show any emotions at all. Perhaps the change of surroundings for her was ending up to be a good thing. Kale didn't want to brag, even to himself, but she had seemed slightly more relaxed now than when she asked to tag along with him. It was a good thing that she found his sense of humor amusing, as otherwise this would be a rather silent and tense trip.

Rosethorne turned her head slightly to face Kale and still keep an eye on the path ahead. "Did I guess correctly that we're travelling southwest?"

Kale answered as he was packing up his things. "Yes. There's one other of my father's friends that's still alive to my knowledge, and he evidently 'turned funny' recently. I wanted to see if this was true, to see who else knows my parents, but doesn't know what happened to them. He lives in Burning Shore."

He saw one of her eyebrows quirk out of the corner of his eye. He silently counted the seconds until she voiced her question. He didn't wait long. "'Burning Shore?' Is this desert city near the coastline?"

Kale's eyes narrowed as he tried to remember his geography. "No, it's actually a city in the middle of the desert lands."

The corners of her mouth quirked upward a little more, though not enough to be fully termed a smile. "You're willingly going someplace in the middle of the arid desert encouragingly named Burning Shore?"

He hid a smile as he looked straight ahead. "Yes. Yes, I am. The bright side of that place is that it's more or less considered neutral territory; the Immaculate lands down South are pretty sparse."

Rosethorne turned her head slightly to look toward him once again as they kept their slow and steady pace. "You mean, you won't have to worry about any Wyld Hunts?"

He smirked as he looked at her. "What do you mean, 'me?' I can hide myself quite well, thank you. You, on the other hand, seem to attract them like flies."

She shook her head slightly. "Prey is always unconsciously attracted to predator. It is the way of things."

Kale rolled his eyes. "All the rhetoric and philosophy of what you are aside, you really believe yourself to be a predator?"

She slowly turned her head to gaze into his eyes. "It was my job to be a predator for five years, Kale." She gave him an even look, as if silently daring him to continue.

Kale gave her a somewhat confused look. "Now that its no longer your job, you still believe yourself to be nothing more than a predator?"

She looked at him with her head tilted sideways slightly for a moment, before opening her mouth, and allowing her fangs to grow. In the sunlight, her visibly elongating and sharpening canine teeth were much more obvious. She closed her mouth again, looking into his eyes pointedly before turning back to look at the barely-visible path ahead of them. "Does that answer your question?"

He really couldn't help but persist. "Yes, you have fangs, and yes, you have to drink blood." He managed to supress the shudder that went through him at the thought. "But you also have memories, your knowledge, and your honor. Doesn't that make you more than just a simple predator?"

Rosethorne was silent. As he studied her reaction out of the corner of his eye, he thought at first that he had offended her somehow. However, the way her lips were slightly pursed, the tell-tale slight tilt of her head to the side, and her eyes narrowed slightly told him otherwise. She spoke up after thinking for a few seconds more. "I have those traits, true. However, they are in addition to my propensity for being a predatory being."

So, she still stayed with the same idea. Interesting. "What if you could eat normal human food? Would you still be a predator then?"

Her answer was without hesitation. "Yes."

Oh no, she wasn't getting away with a simple answer, not to a question like this. "Okay, why?"

She turned to look at him again, a lock of her long ebon bangs falling over her right eye, her expression neutral. "My nature as a predator wouldn't be as immediately obvious, as I would have no need for fangs. However, my desire to slay those that I name as my enemies would still bear evidence of it."

Kale smiled. "But ordinary people, as we used to be before the Exaltation, have these feelings as well. They aspire to right wrongs committed upon them, and make war on their enemies if the cause is great enough. So, what does being what you are now make you a predator, beyond living longer and being able to channel essence?"

She was silent again, thinking once more. Her voice seemed...a little softer than usual. "A person, given greater abilities and power beyond the norm can either prey on those who are weaker than they, stand up self-righteously to protect those weaker than they, or use it strictly for their own ends."

That made Kale think a moment. It reminded him of the train of thought that ran through his mind quite often as Melia was training him. Had it really been only a few months ago? "I disagree on the viewpoint somewhat. A person with our capabilities can either misuse their talents to harm or take advantage of those who don't have them, dedicate themselves to protecting those weaker than they, or simply not involve themselves with those people who don't have their abilities, which can end up being a good or bad thing."

She looked at him curiously. "That's what I just said, except for slight changes of verbiage. However, what do you mean by not getting involved in human affairs being a good or bad thing?"

Kale shook his head. "As for just changing the words around, no, it's not just a change of words. As I see it, the Exalts in the world are given power, but with that power comes twice as much responsibility. If you just use your talents to bully those who don't, that makes you no better than the Immaculates. Sure, the way you might go about doing it might be different, but the end result is the same."

She just looked at him. "The Solars had the same sort of regime, during the First Age. They brought the entire world under their fist."

Unbidden, images flashed through Kale's mind. It bewildered him to keep up with the assault on his mind's eye, though he was able to make out quite a few details. He shook his head to clear it, and reflected for a few moments.

Rosethorne looked at him sidelong, and turned her head to face him, questioning. "Are you not feeling well?"

Kale shook his head. "No, I'm fine. I was just thinking too deeply there for a moment."

She gave him a dubious look, but said nothing.

He marshalled his thoughts to answer her earlier question, based on the little that he understood or recognized from the fragmentary images, guessing that they were bits of Melia's memories washing over him in that instant. "The Solar Deliberative was good and just - for the first thousand years, at any rate. It was after that time that the majority of them began to feel arrogant in their power, enough to think of other people as simply tools to be used, or cattle to be herded. It wasn't long after that when the Dragon Blooded revolted."

She turned her head to face him again, her head slightly tilted, bringing a lock of her bangs across her eye once more. "Is this what you meant when you were speaking of those among us who separate themselves from everyone else?"

Kale nodded, turning to look into her ice-blue eyes before he replied. He was momentarily stunned and fascinated by their depth before he blinked his eyes to clear them, and replied as if nothing had happened. He hoped she didn't notice him staring. "Yes. From what I understand, some of the Solars toward the end of the First Age summoned demons, trafficked with the Yozi, and worse, just to increase their own power."

She tilted her head slightly downward, while still gazing into his eyes as they walked. "...And wanting to increase the power at one's disposal is...a bad thing?"

Kale nodded, a somber expression on face. "Sure, it's power exchange - but at what cost? The prices they ask for are always something more than you're willing to give. Favors between people you know and trust; that's one thing, since you trust them to not be unfair. But when you're deliberately dealing with beings that enjoy causing corruption and strife in others...yeah, no thanks."

She looked at him, a curious expression on her face. When Kale didn't elaborate right away, she spoke up. "You surprise me, Kale. You seem surprisingly well-informed on some things, and surprisingly..." She paused, as if looking for the right word. "...innocent in others."

He gave her a half-smile. "Most of what I know, I know from my Essence's memories, and what she's told and taught me."

She returned the half-smile. "So, it appears you've been subjected to the same 'rhetoric' as I."

Kale chuckled quietly. "Nah, she gave me the information, and let me make up my own mind about it."

They walked in silence for a few minutes, both of them taking long looks at the lush, green scenery around them, as it would be soon gone once they reached the desert lands. Kale spied a wild strawberry patch a ways off the path, and his mouth involunartily began to salivate as he remembered how good the last ones he had were, and how long ago it had been. The thought struck him - if he was getting hungry, then how was Rosethorne doing?

Kale looked back at her, seeing her looking off to her left, facing away from him. Wow, this was uncomfortable, he was about to seriously ask someone if they needed blood. "Hey, Rosethorne?"

Her head turned sinuously back toward him, her eyebrows raised slightly in question. "Hm?"

He scratched the back of his head for a moment, trying to think of how to put this into words. She gave him an indulgent and slightly curious look. "Um, when was the last time you ate?"

She looked slightly skyward, her head tilted to the side. "I haven't fed since that night with the Immaculate soldiers, I believe. Why?"

Kale's eyebrows raised in surprise. "It's been that long?"

She nodded, looking at him with slight curiosity. "Why do you raise the question?"

He took a breath. Kale still didn't believe he was asking this. "Well, I realized I was beginning to get hungry, and I ate last night. You, on the other hand, haven't....er, fed since that night."

She looked at him impassively. "I am fine, for now." She turned her head back to face the path before them, and then turned back to look at him, curious. "Why are you concerned for my welfare? I'm the one guarding you, am I not?"

Kale chuckled. He couldn't help it. "First off, you're with me as we agreed: as my companion, not my retainer, not my bodyguard, and not my bathmaiden." He paused, as if thinking. "Although..."

She gave him a look that would have rivalled the deep Northern snows for pure freezing intensity.

He laughed. "I'm kidding, I swear. Seriously, I was concerned for your welfare because since I knew I was hungry, you might be as well. Fair's fair, and all that."

The look on her face changed from wintry glare to curious rather quickly as she looked at him. "What a strange expression."

Kale looked at her, curious himself. "Which?"

She tilted her head slightly to the side, allowing the same lock of her bangs to fall across her eye once more. Kale was beginning to think she did this on purpose. It did make her look rather fetching, at any rate. Kale realized as she was replying that he was staring at her, and looked away as she was answering. "Your expression...what was it...'fair's fair?'"

He looked back at her, careful to have his glance be casual. "It basically means to do to others what you would have them do to you; it's a method of measuring your own behavior toward others based on others doing the same to you."

Rosethorne raised her eyebrow, curious. "That could be taken in a few different ways."

Kale looked back at her, wondering what she was getting at. "Like?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment before replying. "For instance, what you just did - being concerned for my welfare, because you wish me to be concerned with yours."

He raised both of his eyebrows in surprise. Wow, she was insightful when he least expected it! "Well, you said you were trying to protect me before I reminded you that I don't need protecting, right?"

She slowly turned to look at him again, her face impassive. "I will grant you that - you are quite good at staying out of trouble." Her grave face turned into a smile. "Until you open your mouth."

And now she springs a joke! She really must be loosening up, he guessed. Kale chuckled as he thought about this, before assuming a serious face. "Nah, I just open my mouth around people who are sworn to protect my life and have to put up with it."

Kale saw her close her eyes and slowly shake her head for a moment before looking back at him. Her face would have looked slightly annoyed, were it not for the visible twinkle in her eyes. "So, to be sure I understand this 'fair's fair' concept of yours - because I would never wish to irritate others with smart remarks, should I cut out your tongue?"

He gave her a smirk as he replied. "Psh. You'll have to catch me first."

She gave him a cold smile. "That much is easily arranged." She lunged at him with hands outstretched. She moved so quickly that he didn't have time to dodge, as he became aware of the attack just as her hands closed around his throat. His eyes widened as he looked into her eyes, seeing the grim certainty there. He threw himself backwards in an attempt to escape, but she followed his motion relentlessly, pushing him onto his back heavily. She sat on his stomach to keep her balance.

Kale's wide-open brown eyes met her cold, narrowed ice-blue eyes. For a few moments, he was becoming scared as she had her hands pressed expertly into his windpipe, her arms locked to prevent movement. He was just as surprised as a few moments later, her eyes widened slightly while looking into his, her facial expression softening into quiet surprise. Her cool hands slowly relaxed their grip around his neck.

He quickly caught his breath as they continued gazing into one another's eyes. He gently grabbed her hands with his, removing them from his neck, though not letting go of her pale, cool hands just yet. "Do I need to brush my teeth again, or something?" He asked quietly, with a small smile on his face.

She shook her head, while still looking surprised, and a little bewildered. "No...I'm not sure what it was, but you seemed...more familiar, somehow."

He smiled gently up at her. "Well, I wouldn't be male if I weren't enjoying this somewhat, but your claw is digging into my leg."

Rosethorne's expression changed from stunned to slightly amused as she shook her head. She clasped his hands with hers as she rapidly stood up, pulling him to his feet as well. She spoke in a softer voice than usual. "I went too far to prove a point. I apologize."

Kale gently felt around his throat as he answered somewhat hoarsely. "I'm not counting that as you saving my life, in case you're wondering."

She smirked as she looked at him, shaking her head again, but saying nothing.

He coughed experimentally, relived that he could breathe normally now. "I have to ask - by the 'fair's fair' rule, does this mean that you want to be choked with me on top of you?"

She gave him what could only be described as a mix between a wintry glare and slight amusement. "It would be most unwise for you to even entertain the thought."

Kale nodded in understanding, and they began walking again by unspoken agreement.

A few minutes later, he gave voice to the thought that was troubling his mind. "Of course, you realize this means I now owe you one."

Kale was sorely tempted to consider the frosty glare she gave him as a dare.

They walked in silence for a few minutes. Kale seemed to be taking the long strides of someone used to covering lots of ground, with Rosethorne effortlessly keeping up with a marching pace.

This question nagged at her. When she had invoked the rote to sieze him by his throat and forced him to the ground, that brief moment where she saw...something in his eyes had surprised her. It had surprised her far more than she would like to admit, enough to even loosen her grip around his neck. It has surprised her again, in the back of her mind, that his hands were so warm when he gently removed her hands from his neck.

It was a strong sense of...familiarity that seemed to resound within her, though it had left as quickly and suddenly as it had arrived. It still had her concerned and lost in her thoughts now, though her eyes automatically surveyed the path ahead. For that fateful second, it felt as if her entire being resounded with the sense of familiarity. It had come upon her after she sat on his stomach on the ground and looked into his eyes. Something about that gently touched a forgotten memory within her, almost bringing it to the surface, though not enough to remember.

The sweet-smelling grasses and low-growing shrubs were slowly giving way to the tawny sands of the desert as they walked. The noonday sun was hotter than she remembered, feeling as if it were beating relentlessly onto all her skin at once, burning as it touched her. She felt sweaty from being too warm, which was something that hadn't happened to her in recent memory. She glanced at him, seeing him take off his satchel as they kept up their brisk pace, take off his long jacket, and place it into the satchel, revealing a long-sleeved shirt made of thin material.

He glanced over at her, as she saw his eyes widen somewhat at the sight of a few rivulets of sweat beginning to run down her face. He didn't say anything at first, though kept glancing every minute or so. His looks were at first surprised, then more and more concerned. She kept her surprise at his reaction to herself, though found herself not suspecting his motives this time, which was something that surprised her at the realization.

He spoke up after he had glanced at her with barely-disguised concern, his eyes front. He asked in a carefully casual voice. "Hey, when you were packing up clothes, did you pack any warm-weather clothes?"

Rosethorne blinked at this. She was slightly angry at herself for not even thinking about that, as the Underworld was the same basic temperature all the time: that of nearly bone-chilling cold, which she had grown used to. Indeed, she had even begun to enjoy the temperature there. To feel...overheated was a shock for her. "No, I admit I didn't think of it."

She noticed that he was doing his best to hide a smile, and mostly succeeding. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I kinda figured you might."

Rosethorne turned her head imperiously, and fixed him with a look. "Oh?"

He nodded, still keeping his voice carefully casual, as if he had just thought of it. "Mmm-hm. It's why I brought a bit more along than I needed."

Rosethorne nodded at this, but didn't say anything. A few minutes of hearing nothing but their feet crunching softly through the sands passed, though she noticed that their pace had slowed. Had she slowed because of him, or had he slowed down because she unconsciously had?

It was strange to say that she had begun to understand and learn about this man who'd saved her life, and consequently been the cause of said life spinning in odd directions. When he spoke up with mock surprise, she gave him a long look. "Oh, look at that, over there! There's that oasis; I'd forgotten about it. Want to rest there?"

Clever. She had to hand him that. He was suggesting this as a way for her to maintain her dignity, which she appreciated. A small smile played around the corners of her mouth as evidence of it, though she didn't say it out loud. "Very well. How long of a 'rest' are you suggesting?"

He turned slightly as they walked, angling them away from their original path and toward a blot of green, some distance away. "Oh, not too long. Just an hour or so. The oasis is fed by the sea, so it's still pretty cool, even in the desert. Fresh water, too."

Rosethorne had to admit, the thought of immersing herself into cool water was very appealing. She grabbed the bottom of the neck of her shirt, and shook rapidly, hoping to tempt a breeze. She noticed his eyes glance toward her as they walked, and grow wide suddenly, before suddenly snapping his gaze back to the front, and attempting to look as if nothing had happened. She hid a smile of her own, as she realized what he had seen; her motion of shaking her shirt ceasing.

His reaction made her think, however. He hadn't stared lasciviously down her shirt in the least, though he did glance briefly. It reminded her of what he had said when they had first met, both wary around the other, when it came to women from his point of view. She realized that Kale saw looking as he did as vaguely disrespectful, which was actually somewhat refreshing, given her limited experience with men. However, she almost had to bite the inside of her lip to keep herself from smiling. She felt like testing a theory when they got to the oasis.

Kale's demeanor so far had seemed honest enough, though she still wasn't sure of his motives. Despite his kindness so far, he might still be planning something devious that involved ill intentions toward her, and the best way to test this theory was to see his reactions at the oasis. She hid another smile. If he reacted the way he had thus far, however, this might prove to be fun.

They walked in silence to the oasis, with Kale pointedly not looking at her as she ruffled her shirt again. It took a few minutes, but the sands suddenly gave way to a large outcropping of rocks forming a small cliff, surrounding a large, sparkling inlet of clear water. She took a deep breath. She admitted, it looked quite inviting.

He looked over at her again, keeping his gaze fixed on her eyes, and not looking downward in the least. "Want to go first? I'll keep lookout."

She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Yes, I'm sure."

He smirked. "I'll be looking at the surroundings and not staring at you, I promise."

She gave him a half smile. "Very well."

He pointed out the quickest way down through the rocks to the water below. "Right down there. Call out when you're done, since I think I'd like to go for a quick swim too."

She nodded before she swiftly descended the rocks. She walked to the water, gently lapping over the rocks at the water's edge, smelling the cool pureness of it. She took a few steps back to the drier rocks, and took off her satchel. After removing soap, she almost removed the towel, before burying it under her extra clothes with a small smile. She quickly removed her clothes, and dove into the cool, clear, and deep lake. As she surfaced with a gasp at the sudden shock of the cool water, she glanced about for Kale. She quickly saw him, with his back to her, looking at the sands around them. She smiled broadly as she began swimming comfortably on her back, watching him the entire time. She felt mildly disappointed when he didn't turn around at all.

She thought more about his reactions as she grabbed the soap and began to wash. It was quite strange; she had expected him to sneak a look at least once, though he hadn't. However, it looked as if he almost did more than once, before quickly turning his gaze to the desert around them.

She finished her washing rather quickly, and just enjoyed the feeling of the cool water on her skin. The overwhelming heat of the desert was swiftly becoming a fading memory, though she knew in the back of her mind that she'd have to face it once again.

Soon enough, she was finished, ready for the desert again with a sigh. She smirked though, as she decided to test her theory. "Kale, would you mind bringing me a towel?"

She heard his chuckle above her. "You mean to tell me you forgot one?"

Rosethorne kept her face as neutral as possible. "Unfortunately, yes."

"Good thing I brought two. Where you do want the towel?" His voice sounded amused, though he was still facing away from her.

"It might fall into the water if you drop it, Kale. Would you mind bringing it down here?"

There was a noticable pause. "Alright."

She swam back into the deeper parts of the water, with only her neck above water as she watched him gracefully descend the rocks. As his descent was momentarily hidden by a large boulder, she swam to the rocks, and stepped out onto the water's edge.

He stepped out, his attention on his satchel as he dug out a clean and folded towel. As he pulled it free of his satchel, he looked to the water's edge, his eyes momentarily growing wide before spinning around to face away from her. "Sorry about that. Here's your towel."

She smiled. This seemed to be one of the ways in which his innocence displayed itself, she thought, as she walked over the rocks to gently take the towel from his outstretched hand. She decided to take her time drying herself. Let's test this reaction further, she thought. "Why do you look away, Kale?"

Another noticable pause. "I don't want to feel as if I'm invading your privacy."

"I see," she replied with another smile. "Are you sure you're attracted to women, Kale?"

Kale still had his back to her. He replied with surety. "Oh, yes. I'm quite sure."

She raised an eyebrow as she handed the towel back into his hand, gently touching his hand before stepping back to her satchel. "And yet you do your best not to look if the opportunity presents itself?"

His reply sounded...a little uncomfortable. "Well, I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable by staring at you like a big stupid lout. Besides, it goes back to that fair's fair thing again."

Rosethorne selected some pants and a shirt of thinner material from her satchel as she replied with another smile. "Are you saying you're uncomfortable with the thought of a woman staring at you?"

He still had his back to her, though she could hear the smile in his voice. "Well, I don't want someone to stare at me like I was a piece of meat, no."

She finished putting on her shirt. She admitted, this idea to visit the oasis was a good one; she felt wonderfully refreshed. "How interesting. Your turn."

He didn't turn around quite yet. "I hate to ask, but in the interest of politeness, I have to. Are you decent?"

She decided to walk over past him to look into his eyes with a half smile. "On rare occasions."

After turning around to ascend the rocks to the desert above, she glanced quickly behind her, to catch him watching her ascend before rapidly turning around and moving behind a rock, the sounds of him getting undressed becoming apparent. She grinned as she finished ascending the rocks, and looked out at the desert around them.

As she heard him dive into the water, she studied the desolate landscape around this solitary island of rock and water amidst a sea of hot, dry sand. It made her wonder why people lived willingly out here.

She took a quick glance behind her to see him burst from the formerly still surface of the water. She looked briefly at him before turning around again, lest he catch her looking. Well, it was now apparent that he'd been idle almost never in his life, from the look of his chest and arms. It also explained how he was able to wield the large and cumbersome sword he seemed to favor so deftly.

She lost herself in thought as she surveyed the desert around them, seeing nothing but gently sloping hills of sand wherever she looked. She began to wonder idly if the time she'd spend in the forests and grassy plains had been a dream, as she saw no evidence of them now, even in the distance.

Rosethorne became quickly aware of his presence as he spoke, sitting on the rock beside her. "Enjoy the view?"

Keeping silent for now, until she was sure what view he was speaking of, she merely looked at him questioningly. "Hm?"

Kale looked in the same direction she had been looking only a moment before. "The heat doesn't bother me that much, but I still prefer to live in the plains or forests, where it's cooler." He paused a moment. "Not to mention less depressing."

She nodded. "Indeed, so shall we get this trip over with? I presume you'd like to return to your beloved forest afterwards."

He turned to look at her, smirking. "Yeah; you're right. Shall we?" He stood up, waiting for her. He saw her looking up into his eyes with a smirk on her face. He looked at her a moment before replying, somewhat amused himself now. "What?"

She shook her head with a smile. "Nothing." She stood, and looked at him pointedly.

He shook his head now, looking someone perplexed. "...Okay."

They began walking again. Soon, the wonderfully cool water of the oasis seemed like a distant memory, swallowed up and devoured by the endless rolling dunes of the desert. They simultaneously took small mouthfuls of water from their waterskins. They both realized this at the same time, and looked at each other with a smile before looking at the path ahead of them once again.

Well, she had tested her theory about his reactions, and his behavior now made more sense. It seemed evident that he was simply being a gentleman, but it was equally evident he had little experience with women. It seemed an odd twist of fate to be travelling with a man such as this now, though it could have been worse.

She frowned slightly as she thought back regarding the previous week. Yes, it could be quite a bit worse.

She felt more relieved than words could express to see the sun setting to their left as they walked, feeling the air around them cooling off. She took a slow, deep breath, and murmured "Finally."

He glanced at her questioningly, before nodding in agreement. "Unfortunately, after dark is when things can get interesting here."

She looked at him, quirking an eyebrow as she did so. "Oh?"

Kale nodded, looking at their surroundings. "Sand raiders, weird gigantic beetles that eat people, and even more fun things."

Rosethorne looked vaguely amused. "What time of night do they usually appear?"

He shrugged. "It's not like they keep a timetable. It could be an hour after sun sets, it could be in the middle of the night."

Looking around the desert that enclosed them on all sides, she paused for a moment. "Do you want first watch, or do you want me to have the honor?"

Kale chuckled. "I'll take first watch. If nothing happens before I wake you, then we'll probably have an unexciting night."

She nodded. "Very well."

They walked in silence toward three tall, rising columns of rock, buried on end in the sand. They didn't look to be naturally occurring, especially placed as they were in the shape of a triangle. One of them listed slightly to the side however, giving her the impression that this formation had been in this place for a very long time.

Kale followed her gaze. "The Sentinels. I've heard stories that it was once part of a larger formation, made to give travellers a safe place to sleep."

She looked at him, her head tilted slightly to the side. "Is sleeping within the Sentinel's shadows safer than the desert surrounding it?"

He chuckled. "Not really."

She half-heartedly glared at him, which only earned her a smile in response. They quickly busied themselves in getting ready for the night, Rosethorne being exceptionally careful to not get any sand in her blanket or on her bedroll. She got beneath her blanket, being somewhat surprised at how cool the night had become, compared of the searing heat only a few hours ago. It made her think that in this place of extremes, it would either be quiet and uneventful, or very exciting.

He crouched down beside her bed, looking down at her. "Sleep well. I'll wake you in a few hours."

She nodded, looking at him with a slight smile before rolling onto her side, and closing her eyes. She was surprised at how quickly she fell asleep.

Her dreams once again were scattered and random, making little sense. She wasn't especially surprised when she heard his voice between dreams.

"I recognize him..."

She felt a little amused by his first words of this conversation. "You mean the Solar?"

"Yes...his form is unfamiliar to me, but there's something within him..."

She raised an eyebrow. Rosethorne was momentarily amused at how lifelike this dream seemed to be. But then again, it was always this way when she spoke with her Essence, for better or worse. "You mean, his Essence?"

"...I cannot see it, but something strikes me as very familiar about it."

"Yes, that's quite interesting, I'm sure. However, I'm more concerned about whether or not I'm still being hunted. Do you know?"

There was a pause, in the silence of this place of pure shadow. "Yes, though they do not know your whereabouts. They are still searching for you, however."

She nodded. That made sense. However, the thought of her life only two weeks ago struck her, and made her look downcast. "They're never going to rest until I've been slain, are they?"

The response was immediate. "No."

Rosethorne began to feel uncomfortable, which made her feel slightly angry. "So is my travelling with this Solar is only delaying the inevitable?"

There was another pause, which began to irritate her. "I cannot say. What I can say is that things feel much more...peaceful in his company."

She paused, her anger draining away. As insane and annoying as the Essence within her was, he did have a point. She did feel much more at peace around Kale; something she had grown to enjoy. "So you're suggesting I remain in his company for now?"

There was another pause, though shorter this time. "I cannot say why, as I do not know. However, I feel that you should."

She shrugged, in this place of shadows and dreams, though she couldn't quite keep the sarcasm from her reply. "Very well. I'm glad to know I have your approval."

She heard an echoing chuckle all around her. "I cannot say why, though I can say what my intuition tells me."

Rosethorne's eyes narrowed at the ensuing silence. "...Which is?"

"That you will soon find out why."

The next thing she knew, someone was gently shaking her shoulder. As she felt herself being dragged into wakefulness, she turned to look at who would dare to touch her, but she relaxed when she saw it was Kale, looking somewhat concerned. "Hey, wake up, sleepyhead. You were talking in your sleep."

She hid a mortified look as she blinked her way into wakefulness, seeing the enveloping darkness all around them, the Sentinels surrounding their resting place reminding her of where she was. "Strange dreams. Give me a moment, and I'll be ready."

He withdrew his hand, and nodded. She stretched, and got out from beneath her blanket, strapping on her belt and scimitar. She left her claw and gauntlet by her bedroll, as she doubted she'd need them.

Standing to her feet, she looked at Kale. "Alright. May you have more restful dreams than I."

He smiled at her, and nodded. "I hope so, too."

She watched him remove his gear, and crawl into his bed, closing his eyes nearly immediately. She watched him as his breathing evened out, becoming more regular and calm, as he fell into dreams.

She looked around her, scanning her surroundings. To feel more comfortable, she drew some of the shadows around her, which allowed her to see better in the gloom as well. She practiced walking as he had done, feeling somewhat amused at how Kale's steps didn't make any sound or track, even in the desert. She felt that she had nearly learned the trick to it, when she heard noises surrounding her. She froze, her eyes scanning the desert.

Soon, she saw those that had made the noise. Small, crouching humanoid-looking beings, wearing little more than loincloths as they effortlessly loped through the desert. She saw that they carried spears, and were drawing nearer to where Kale slept.

Her eyes narrowed, as she used her newfound skill of walking quietly to move behind them. She heard their voices as they quietly spoke amongst themselves in some strange dialect.

"Hmm hmm, onlyone, thoughtthere weretwo?" The one speaking twitched nervously.

"Otherone isgonenow. Whatof thisone?" This one was actually licking its chops as it looked at Kale like...an uncooked piece of meat. Rosethorne smirked to herself, remembering their conversation earlier in the day, though she doubted this creature meant its look to be quite like what she and Kale had discussed.

"Killit killit, thenwe eat, yes!" The third one looked far too excited with the prospect. They began to creep nearer to where he slept, unaware that there was a larger shadow behind them, growing quickly and quietly nearer.

Rosethorne realized that she hadn't fed in several days, and the smell of these little unwashed things was nonetheless making her fangs grow involuntarily. She snuck behind the one nearest her, threw a hand over its mouth, and yanked it into the shadow where she hid in silence. She sunk her fangs into its neck, her hand stifling its squeal of surprise.

She kept an eye on the other two, who were prancing quietly near the Sentinel rocks now, and getting nearer. They still hadn't noticed the loss of their companion, their attention focused upon Kale's soft snores. She felt her food's struggles getting much weaker, now little more than twitches.

She dropped the decidedly more pale corpse onto the desert sand, and began creeping behind the one now nearest her. She felt sated now, despite the flecks of sand on her lips from the unwashed one's neck. She released the shadows around her, stepping into view from behind one of them, taking its head swiftly.

The third one whirled in surprise at the noise, its eyes growing wide as it saw her. She smiled at it, before she crossed the distance between them with shocking speed, siezing it around the throat with one hand and lifting it into the air. Its struggles increased, the fear it was feeling now obvious by its smell.

She didn't wish to torture it, which surprised her. In the past, she would have relished the feeling of causing terror to another...but not anymore. She dropped it onto the sand, and spoke a single word to it's wide-eyed and frightened face. "Run!"

The thing took off with alacrity, looking over its shoulder as it raced across the desert sands, putting as much distance between it and her as it possibly could.

She turned around to look at Kale, who was now sitting upright, looking in the direction the creature had run. "Damn. Looks like you got to have all the fun." He glanced at the pale corpse off in the distance, and the beheaded one nearer, before looking at her with a smirk. "Entirely too much fun, it seems."

She smiled at him, as she realized that she had saved his life. "My debt to you has been repaid."

He looked sleepily confused. "Huh?"

She looked patiently at him. "I saved your life. My debt to you has been fulfilled."

He looked a little shocked, and then downcast before looking back at her once again. Suddenly his eyes went wide, and he darted with unbelievable speed toward her. She dropped into a defensive posture, but he swept past her so quickly she felt a breeze as he passed. She spun around not quite fast enough to hear a growl, and a swishing noise, followed immediately by a crunch.

She looked behind her, her eyes widening as she saw the huge, centipede-like insect. From the way it fell, its mouth was about to sink into her back, though now it was making some strange clicking and soft squealing noise as it thrashed in its death throes, cut in half by Kale's blade.

He was still looking wide-eyed at it, his chest moving a little faster than normal. "Damn, that was a big one," he said as he turned to look at her, his eyes still wide open from the adrenaline in his body.

She felt somewhat relieved, but mostly angry as she glared at him. He looked back at the insect, his breathing slowing now, as he smiled. He turned to look back at her. "So, as you were sayi..."

He trailed off, and suddenly things seemed to move in slow motion. He dropped into a crouch, his legs beginning to launch himself toward something behind her. She began to turn, but not fast enough. She felt three long teeth sink deeply into her back. She gasped in pain, losing her grip on her scimitar, which began its slow descent to the ground.

Faster than seemed possible, she felt herself being dragged swiftly under the sand. The last thing she saw was Kale's wide-eyed look of shock, as he began to yell something, though she was under the sands too quickly to hear what.

Her scimitar hit the sands, as still now as they had ever been.

Kale's eyes grew wide as he saw the huge worm made of bone erupt silently from the sands. He raced toward it as quickly as he could, the gem in his bracer glowing as he moved with impossible speed. But, it wasn't enough. He saw the worm open it's mouth and pull its head back to strike, three bone spikes as long as spears extending from its maw as he took his first step. The boneworm struck like a thunderbolt, sinking all three of the bone spikes deep into Rosethorne's back. Her eyes grew wide with surprise, shock, and pain as he took his next leaping stride toward the boneworm. It retracted the bone spikes, drawing her into it's gaping, foul-smelling maw, and sunk with shocking speed back into the sands, now as undisturbed as they had ever been.
"Noooooooo!" Kale cried, as he dove where Rosethorne had been only a moment before.

Kale dug furiously, the gem in his bracer now glowing as his hands blurred with desperation. He slowed down, and stopped five minutes later, when he realized exactly how stupid trying to dig in sand with one's hands really was.

He fell back, sitting upright now, just looking at the sands where she had been just a few minutes before. He noticed her scimitar lying there, innocently. He stared at it for a minute, before standing, and walking over to grab it. He was mildly surprised at its weight, but then again, it was attuned to her. Not him. He sighed.

He felt a tugging on the back of his mind after he had placed her scimitar with her bedroll, and sat down on his own. He rolled his eyes as he felt it. "Nice timing, Melia."

He saw an image of a dusty, dark place, and a dark castle within this place. He suppressed his growing irritation with effort. "Yeah, that's nice, but I need to talk to you, and right now. You know, a two-sided conversation? With words?"

There was a pause, then an image of her little temple in the sands; her Manse. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. "I hope you realize that I'm four days south of there, even if I run the whole way."

A pause, then a feeling that he had time. Not too much time, but he had time. He felt like punching something, kicking something and screaming incoherently at the moon above. Instead, he decided to calm himself by rapidly moving through his sword katas for fifteen minutes to calm himself down. Thankfully, it worked.

Kale sighed again as he saw her rather forlorn and alone-looking bedroll and weapons. He packed up her things, and put them in the satchel she'd left behind, carrying both. He tested the weight of everything he carried, and found that it was light enough to run in.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself once more, he channeled his essence through his anima. The area around him grew more silent, more dark, more ethereal. The gem in his bracer glowed as he awakened it, beginning to take off at a dead run back the way he and Rosethorne had travelled such a short time ago. The Sentinels rapidly faded into the distance behind him.

As he ran with speed borne of desperation for the rest of the night, his mind drifted off in thought. He had met the bloodthirsty and vicious woman such a short time ago, but he already missed her. Saying that it was because she reminded him of the first friend he'd ever had before she had to move away to parts unknown with her parents seemed stupid at best. Granted, Rosethorne had a sense of humor, was intelligent, and was very pretty as dead women go, but even still. Life was never simple, he grumbled.

She had seemed all kinds of pleased when she announced that since she had saved his life, she no longer owed him. He couldn't get that self-satisfied smile of hers out of his mind. Even so, he smirked to himself as he remembered watching how she had stalked and slain two of the little sand raiders, and scared the third one so badly he pissed himself. His smirk faded as he realized that he had to have been fooling himself if he thought she was attracted to him in any way, shape, or form. She had been travelling with him due to her sense of honor alone. Well, he admitted, she did indeed have a sense of honor. He could respect that about her.

The scene of that worm erupting violently from the sands, and swallowing her as if she were a mere insect replayed in his mind, along with the small gasp he heard from her, as she was impaled by the three long, bone spines. He suppressed a shudder at the memory, and ran just a little faster.

He sighed again, as his attention drifted back to his surroundings. He was mildly surprised to see that he was wrong about how long of a trip this would be, since he had forgotten to take that weird gem into account. He saw that the desert lands were rapidly turning back into the grassy plains once more as he swiftly ran. Kale decided to ask Melia exactly what in Sol's name that gem was when he got back to her little temple.

Kale kept running to the edge of the forest, where he decided to call it a night. He tiredly climbed one of the taller trees, and stretched out on one of the higher limbs that could still bear his weight. He automatically invoked the rote that would wake him instantly if anyone attempted to disturb him, and passed out for a few precious hours.

His dreams were strange; fragmented. Ten thousand fires scorching the towns of the entire land, bringing an armageddon to the end of the First Age. The last dream he had before he opened his eyes to see the mid-morning sun through the thick branches of the tree he called his bed made him think the most.

The black, swirling nothingness of Oblivion dragging Rosethorne hungrily into itself, an insubstantial figure wearing a mask reaching out from the Abyss to attempt grabbing her, and pulling her in. But Rosethorne was trying to crawl away, holding out her hand for him to grab. He felt the sun strong at his back, and saw her staring into it single-mindedly, trying to crawl toward it. The sun grew so bright that it blinded him, even with the light being behind him. Just as he grabbed her hand, he awoke, sitting swiftly upright, and gasping.

He calmed his breathing, staring off into the distance as he tried to make sense of his dream. His eyes narrowed as his mind filled in the blanks, and he wondered idly if Melia had sent him the dream. A cold feeling from her dispelled the notion, but he knew it wasn't simply a dream.

Shrugging as he shook himself into wakefulness, Kale decided that his course of action was pretty simple. He'd save her, trying to convince himself that the reason he was doing it was because then she'd owe him one again, and they'd be free to travel together once more.

He shook his head in disgust at himself. That was the most pathetic bit of reasoning he'd ever used to talk himself into something, and that was saying quite a bit. He sighed as he blinked a few more times, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he got his gear together with efficient alacrity.

Closing his eyes, he channeled his essence through his anima once again, distancing himself from the senses of others. He dropped lightly onto his feet from the branch above the ground, and took off at a swift jog toward Melia's temple once more. He felt himself waking up, his heart and lungs getting into the rhythm of his jog, and he increased his pace, the gem glowing softly when it appeared out from under his coat as he swung his arms.

He was pleased somewhat at the time he was making, as he saw the landscape almost sweep by. He hadn't completely hidden his presence or scent, but he was quite a bit more difficult to detect with a casual look, despite the speed he was going. He hoped idly there wouldn't be any problems, as time was the utmost thing on his mind right now.

Kale rolled his eyes as he neared the small desert north of Thorns, seeing the same Immaculate patrol that stopped he and Rosethorne only yesterday. He dove into some nearby brush, the branches barely moving despite his high-speed passage. He grumbled quietly to himself as he invoked the rotes to mask his scent and presence, then promptly began running again.

He passed the patrol going the opposite direction. He grinned to himself, seeing none of their heads turn as he raced by. Except one, a soldier toward the middle of the ranks. Her eyes widened slightly, her head turning to follow him as he raced by. His eyebrows raised as he recognized her as the same one that spoke to them yesterday, and decided to put on another burst of speed to put some serious distance between he and them. However, he heard no cries of alarm, no yells of "ANATHEMA!" or anything. Though this didn't reassure him, he was thankful for the moment. Soon enough, he couldn't see or hear them any longer.

It took him a few more hours, but he reached the temple at last. Or at least, where the temple should be; now there was nothing but sand dunes. Kale stood there, breathing somewhat heavily as he stared at the spot where the temple wasn't. He felt like kicking something now out of sheer desperate frustration.

A memory of sorts nagged at him, reminding him that he had sunken the temple when last he left. He took a deep breath to calm himself as he thought out loud. "Great, I learned how to make the temple hide itself, that's grand. Now, more importantly, how do I bring it back up?" Kale shook his head, the urge to kick something growing stronger.

Hoping it would help matters, he decided to use his imagination, imagining the temple rising majestically and quickly from the desert sands below. He was surprised when something did emerge from the desert sands, but it wasn't the temple. It appeared to be a small, flat monolith.

He grinned, once he saw the five symbols in an intricate design upon it. He realized that it was the way to bring the temple up, and put in the combination Melia had taught him, wondering idly how he could change it. Melia was a smart woman, that's for sure, but her password was outright dumb.

Kale could have sworn he heard her tinkling laughter just then.

He shook his head, and pressed the last symbol. The ground began to shake ominously for a moment, before the temple rose majestically from the desert sands. Kale took a deep breath and smirked slightly. "See? I do have a good imagination," he remarked to the stones around him. They predictably didn't answer.

Taking long strides up the steps and into the temple proper, he saw the sleeping guardian at the end of the first room. It was standing guard over Melia's inner chamber. Unfortunately for Kale, this meant that there was no way he could just simply walk in.

"Hey!" He yelled to the sleeping guardian. He was relieved to see its eyes flare up a ghostly bluish-green, and look down at him with the slight grating noise of metal on metal.

"GREETINGS, KALE, CHILD OF THE NIGHT. WHAT IS YOUR WISH?" Kale was quietly thankful that the big guardian left its absurdly-large sword planted right between its feet, and not whizzing by his ears as it had in the past.

"Greetings yourself. Would you mind moving? I need to get into the chamber behind you." Kale kept his voice friendly, hiding his impatience.

The guardian nodded, and stepped with a room-shaking step to the side. Its eyes flickered and dimmed, as it assumed the look of overly-large armor once more.

Kale strode into the room, and sat down at the center. "Okay Melia, here we are. Please tell me I can have an actual conversation with you here."

He was half shocked, and half relieved when he saw her ghostly figure appear in front of him. It amused him slightly that he only had to look up slightly to look her in the eyes, despite how he was sitting cross-legged, and she was standing.

Melia's eyes opened, and looked at him with a smile. Her voice echoed slightly, as though she were speaking from a distance away, which she might be. "Yes, we can have a conversation here. I promise to answer all your questions as best I can, as I know you have many."

Kale gave her a smirk. "You're right there. Okay, I'll start with the simple one: what is this gem that was so drawn to, that helps me move so fast?"

She grinned, as she sat down cross-legged in front of him. Despite the fact that she was ghostly, Kale did his best not to look at her legs. "It was given to me as a wedding present from a friend. They were once given as tokens of favor to those Exalts who proved their abilities in battle. It had a more dry and stuffy scholarly title, but I always called it Thomaya's Blessing."

Kale nodded thoughtfully. At least now he knew what to call it, other than "pretty sparkly red gem." He cleared his throat as he broached the main reason he was here. Melia looked at him with a mixture of expectant curiosity and amusement dancing in her green eyes.

"Okay, so she got eaten by a big weird worm made of bone and dragged underneath the desert. Do you know where Rosethorne is?" His face was serious, now.

Melia nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, she's been taken to the Underworld by minions of her former Lord."

Kale's eyes grew wide. "She's been taken where?"

Melia continued as if she hadn't been interrupted. "I don't know exactly where she is, but I can tell by general direction."

Kale's eyes narrowed, suspicious. "How?"

She gave him a soft smile. "Because I can feel where my husband's Essence is, and the one who carries it within them."

Resting his head in his hands, Kale sighed. "And I suppose this is the part where you'll ask me to rescue her from a place I've never been, filled with people who hate the living, right?"

Shaking her head sadly, Melia answered. "No, that decision is yours. Though I would wish to see my husband saved, so I can be sure I keep my vows to him, I can't force you."

Kale raised his head to look at Melia thoughtfully. "What will happen if I don't? I have to know."

Despite being no longer alive, Melia closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. "She will be tortured to death over a span of months, years, perhaps even decades. When they are finished and she finally dies, my husband's very soul will be devoured by Oblivion, and Rosethorne will become Essence for her successor, fully under control of her former Deathlord."

Kale shuddered, taking a deep, shaking breath. "I have to know. How much time does she have?"

Melia closed her eyes, and shook her head slowly. "It's impossible to tell. Though she might technically live for as long as her Deathlord wishes, her will to live will quickly be subverted by her concentration on just blocking out the pain. As soon as she does this almost unconsciously upon waking, she will be lost; her mind poisoned and taken long before she physically dies."

Kale swallowed, his eyes slightly wide, taking a deep breath himself after hearing that. "Wow. Okay, now for the other side of the coin: why do you want me to save her? All the reasons, not just because you want to save your husband's soul."

Melia nodded, with a half smile. "I knew you'd be asking this. Perhaps I even wanted you to..." She shook her head. "No matter. If Rosethorne is removed from her former Deathlord's, and by extension, the Malfean's influence, her unconscious mind will begin rebelling against the Abyss-touched essence within her. There is a chance, but not a great one, that she can purge herself of its taint. As for my husband, the longer he remains conscious and awake, the chance remains that he can be saved as well."

She closed her eyes, and hung her head slightly. "I know...perhaps I'm grasping at straws, but any chance I have of saving him, I'll try doing." She raised her head to look at him, her ghostly eyes bright with unshed tears. "Besides, I felt a bond between you and she. I know you're beginning to fall in love with her, though you deny it, even to yourself. What you don't know is that despite the shadows she has surrounding her very soul, she feels the same way."

Kale sighed and leaned back. "You're damn right I'm denying it. That woman has this unhealthy love/love relationship with blood. I admit, she's rather attractive as dead women go, but still."

Melia smiled slightly at him. "Such things are merely details to the larger scenery, Kale. Would you go to save her for the chance that she might be saved from the Malfean's influence, from her Deathlord's plans, from the very Oblivion that beats within her?"

Laying back to look at the ceiling of the ornate and beautiful temple, Kale sighed again. "Are you asking me if I'm willing to risk my life and probably my soul as well for a chance?"

Melia's answer drifted to his ears. "Yes."

He sat up again, looking gravely into her face. "What I'm worried about is that every living thing I've ever truly cared about has died, Melia. Can you tell me honestly that if I do risk my soul, ass, and neck to rescue her, that she won't go the way of everything else I've cared about?"

Melia stood, and walked to sit behind him. Though ghostly and mostly insubstantial, feeling Melia's arms wrap around his chest as she hugged him gently from behind was comforting. At least she was warm. Her voice seemed soft from behind him. "No, I can't say, since I can't predict the future very well. What I can say is that despite all the problems I've had with my husband, they've always been external to he and I. I wouldn't have done things any differently if given the chance."

Kale got up, and paced the room nearly frantically as he thought. Melia sat back, just watching him, and giving him the time to come to a decision. She didn't have to wait long before he stopped, looked at her, and spoke up. "Alright. What do I need to know?"

Melia smiled at him as she looked up. "I don't know the layout of the castle she's being kept in, but I do know that you're sneaky enough now to explore, as long as you're careful." She smiled broadly at him, her eyes twinkling like twin jade lights. "I'm proud of you, Kale. I know you can do it."

He gave her a half-smile. "Yeah, thanks. I'll start believing that after I get back. Speaking of which, what's the best way to get into the lands of the dead?"

She took another deep breath before looking at him. "The best route would be through the Shadowland that surrounds Thorns."

Kale's jaw dropped. "You mean to tell me that I have to sneak by both the Immaculates and the undead just to sneak inside?"

Melia just nodded.

"Oh, damn." He sighed. He got to his feet, and gave a half-smile to Melia. "Thanks for all of your help today, even if I snapped at you."

She just grinned up at him before standing as well. "Don't worry, Kale. I won't be taking my rest just yet. I want to see how this turns out. However, I don't think I have enough strength left to speak to you like this any place other than here, since I have a bond to this place."

Kale nodded. "Well, if I'm to save her, I'd better leave now." He took one last look at Melia, then turned around and marched swiftly for the door, bidding a cheery goodbye to a somewhat confused guardian before locking up the temple and darting outside. He looked at the temple one more time as it swiftly sank into the sands, before turning around to face the way he had arrived.

It was time to return to Thorns. His eyes narrowed with resolve as he took off running as fast as he could.

Rosethorne's eyes opened wide as she painfully regained conciousness. The pain made her body sing in low, discordant waves of agony. She was in the same torturous contraption again. It had only been a little more than a week since she had been released from it's agonizing and life-suppressing grip, but it seemed like it had been months. Her wish that it had been months at least, or never again at best were put to the side, as she concentrated on separating herself from her body's torment.

She was unable to move her head even a fraction, as it was held still by the soulsteel collars around her neck and head. Long, spiraled needles were embedded between the knuckles of each hand, with each wrist securely bound to the arms of the contraption. Clamps, more needles, hooks, and other things she couldn't recognize by feel held her motionless to the strange, chair-like contraption.

Rosethorne heard his voice, even if he was out of her immediate and rather limited view. The voice of the being that had tortured her mercilessly and unfairly just a short time before. She felt other memories rising in anger at him as well, but they were as formless as dreams, fading away before she could remember. "Did you really think you could fail me, and then evade my notice?"

The Mask of Winters, her former Deathlord; it could be nobody else, with the assured cold certainty in his voice. He moved into her view now, as he seemed to float to the side of the contraption and turn a knob. Her body again screamed its torment at her, but she didn't allow the pain to be shown outside of her mind. Not when he broke her leg with surgical precision. Not when he removed part of the broken bone, and not even when he poured some of the hated black ichorous substance into the wound. She could feel the ichor boiling and frothing, fighting her body's natural healing rate to a halt.

Her face never changed expression. She would not give him the satisfaction of hearing or seeing her give into her agony. His voice seemed to drift like a hungry, poisonous snake into her ears. "Yes, resist all you like, my fallen weapon, my failed general. I will have you tortured until you see the truth of things, that you are my pawn, and nothing more."

The Mask of Winters moved out of her line of sight again, and she felt the skin of her scalp being frozen by the touch of his hands. "Pawns who do not know their place become dangerous, but only to themselves."

He moved back into her line of sight once more, bending slightly to look her in the eyes. Even though partially hidden by his ever-present mask, his eyes seemed to catch hers with frozen certainty, his gaze seeming to worm its way into her mind. "I know not what nonsense your Essence has been telling you, but it most certainly let you go in a direction contrary to what you are. Once you realize the truth of this, I will give you the blessing of death, that you may continue serving me."

The Mask of Winters moved his face closer to hers as he continued. His voice sounded almost...paternal. "It's not entirely your fault that you ran astray, as you didn't know any better." His voice grew coldly certain once more. "However, you still did so, and you must pay the price."

He took a metal, spiral instrument, and began slowly and lightly boring a hole through the skin over her abdomen as he continued. She did not, she could not let him see her in pain. She would not allow him to see. "You failed me in much more than one way, that fateful night. It took me some effort to find you, and track you down."

The instrument he was using had pierced the lining of her abdomen. He paused as he drilled a little bit further, nodded in satisfaction, and put the implement away. The Mask of Winters continued as he returned with a jar of the black ichor. "Just know to the depths of your failed and soiled soul that there is no escaping your fate. Your destiny is to serve me, and serve me you shall."

He began slowly pouring the ichor into her abdomen. It began hungrily devouring her internal organs, even as her body fought back to heal the damage as quickly as it was caused. The pain was sharp, and she was almost unable to mask it. The only sign she gave of this was to slowly blink.

"Because of your contributions to me, I will purify you by pain and agony, and show you through torment the truth. Once you have seen and understood this truth, I will allow your torment to end." He finished emptying the large jar into her abdomen.

He put the jar away, and floated back into her line of sight. "I do this because I value your service to me, and what I control. In this incarnation, you appear to be flawed, and it was my fault for not spotting the flaw until it was too late. Do not worry, I will find the perfect container for you once you are ready to serve me once more."

She still said nothing, and continued looking at the dimly-lit ceiling. He glided out of her view, and out the door. Greta and Kaesta came in together a short time later. Greta with her usual aimless, random meandering, and Kaesta with long, purposeful strides. Greta spoke up first in her usual sing-song voice. "Our Lord decrees that you must be purified of your soul's taint. I will use all my skill to make sure you are cleansed properly."

She began manipulating a few of the knobs of the contraptions, and Rosethorne's pain seemed to double, and then triple in intensity. Her jaw clenched as she forced herself to meditate, to move beyond the pain. She managed to move her mind to slightly outside of herself with great difficulty, the pain almost bringing her back more than once.

Kaesta moved into her view with a look of concern on her pale face. "Oh, I'm so sorry this had to happen to you, my dear." She moved a cold hand to caress Rosethorne's face, who forced herself not to glare hatefully at Kaesta. She wouldn't give her the satisfaction, either. "Even though you and I were both given the beautiful Black Exaltation and have grown apart over the years, you're still my daughter, and I still love you. Just know that there are larger things to be worried about now. I'll still take care of you after you are reborn."

Through great effort, Rosethorne forced herself not to respond. A memory surged to the surface of her mind, one of the many she had supressed long ago. She remembered that because of her mother's selfishness, both of them were taken by the Deathlord's minions to be sacrificed, and later both given the Black Exaltation instead. Rosethorne would never forgive her for that. She would never forgive Kaesta for leaving her father's and brother's memories behind so off-handedly, to become little better than a harlot to anything that desired her company. And she would never forgive Kaesta for her selfishness and short-sightedness.

"Nothing to say, daughter? That's alright, I know you're still confused about what happened to you in the last week. It'll be easier on you if you just think of it as a dream." Kaesta finished stroking Rosethorne's face in a horrific parody of motherly affection, and pulled her hand away.

"Your daughter died that night, Kaesta. Just as my mother did." Rosethorne couldn't quite suppress the urge to give vent to how she felt about Kaesta, even if it was in a minor and small way.

Kaesta laughed melodiously. "Aww, you're still angry about being shown that you were wrong, just like any other rebellious teenager. Don't worry, you'll see the truth in time." She left the room with graceful steps.

Rosethorne fought with great effort to keep her face and body calm and relaxed, distracting her from the pain she felt all over her body. But the sneaking suspicion crept into her mind: what if she was right?

What if she was simply being rebellious, and trying to run away from her responsibilities and proper place? As tempting and bright as the surface world was, she felt alien and unwanted there. She didn't know how to live a quiet life, as Kale seemed to manage doing, most of the time. War and battle was what she was best at. It seemed to be all she knew anymore.

Rosethorne shut out the thoughts and cleared her mind, even as Greta began imaginitively inflicting new agonies upon her. A more quiet voice in the back of her head reminded her of what the wraith had told her a few months ago, and what had been almost seconded by the Essence within her. She was a living being, touched and chilled by Death and Oblivion itself. A parody of life that was perfectly suited to extinguishing life.

But what was taint, really? Was it wanting what was beyond her? Wanting to feel the head and light of the sun on her face, feeling cooling breezes across her skin, feeling the grass beneath her, even though it caused her bare skin to itch slightly? Or was it what had been forced upon her more than five years ago, turning a frightened and angry young woman into a hardened general, a skilled taker of lives?

Greta finished her work, and began just as aimlessly leaving the room. Some parts of the contraption expanded and contracted its bone and soulsteel parts within her skin, stretching and tearing still even as her body reformed and healed itself. A single tear slowly formed in her right eye, making her vision become blurry and indistinct, even as the tear began a slow and mournful journey down her face and toward the floor.

No matter what she thought of it, there was no escaping this. Was resisting the pain worth it, really? It only seemed to prolong the inevitable. She knew with a sinking feeling that she would give up sooner or later, and it was only stubbornness and anger that made her want to make sure it was later, rather than sooner. Her eyes closed as she drifted off to sleep, the only way to really silence her mind and help block out the pain.

Rosethorne's dreams were strange, and more distinct than usual. She saw a blinding, burning light in front of her. It seemed to scorch her skin, but even as it burned, she wanted to walk toward it. She looked behind her, and saw a sea of cool, comforting shadows that enticed her to cool her burned body within its depths. Tendrils of shadow rose from the sea, and began creeping toward her. She knew she must pick which extreme to walk toward, as there seemed to be no middle ground, but there was a quiet third option to her. A single, sharp blade, which she knew would be for taking her own life.

The ramifications of each slowly became clear. The sea of shadows was familiar, cool, comforting, even though it stifled and quelled any life within its depths. The cold, even cadence of shadow and death was predictable and comforting as it was familiar. The bright, burning light on the other side of her hurt to look at, hurt her skin where it touched, but something within her wanted to be a part of its burning, unquenched depths, to feel that brightness more.

The short blade caught her attention. It was the only other way out, to choose neither shadow nor burning brightness, to choose the death she had been denied and yet given to so many others.

All of this faded into darkness as shadows of a different sort surrounded her. These shadows were familiar, at least. She knew their whispering movement, she knew their touch.

"I am still hiding your mind from them, but it is...difficult to do now."

She spoke up to the shadows, and the being she knew was lurking within them. "Why do you still do so? What motivated you to convince me to turn my back on what I knew, even for a short while?"

There was a lengthy silence. She was almost afraid he had gone, but his voice made itself heard unexpectedly. "What motivated me was what I still remember, even now. For you, being Exalted was something that helped you to leave all your past behind and start anew. For me, it was giving up and giving into greed and anger at what had happened to me."

"But you are a part of Oblivion! Why do you confuse things?" She was growing confused, which made her more angry.

"It was not always so." His voice was even more quiet than normal.

"But it is what you are now, is it not? Why do you wish for something else?"

"Because I feel...something wishing it for me. I know not who, or what, but I feel it just the same. It's so dark...too dark to see. I've been deafened and blinded for so long, I've forgotten what it's like to see or hear; the darkness that suffuses me prevents it."

Rosethorne narrowed her eyes, obscuring them in shadow. "What do you mean, you cannot hear or see? You seem to be communicating quite well, for a deaf and blind spirit."

A half-hearted shadowy chuckle drifted into her ears. "I can speak to you alone, and see your immediate surroundings. But I cannot see into the realm of souls as I once was able to."

She thought for a few moments. "You never answered my earlier question. Why are you still not bonded to me? Why do you still try to hide my thoughts from others?"

His voice was barely a whisper. She had to strain to hear it, even in dreams. "For you, being given Exaltation was a positive thing. For me, it was confirmation of my own thirst for revenge...and lack of will."

Her eyes narrowed again, her voice was a hiss of anger. "What in the Yozi's infested hells are you talking about?"

His own voice grew to an echoing shout of anger. "You have no idea about what happened to me, nor do you have any basis of comparison! You cannot begin to comprehend how it feels to die a righteous, clean death in battle, despite being betrayed by those you cared about. You don't know what it feels like to be trapped without a body, in a dark place so far away from the sun's life-giving light. You especially don't know what it's like to finally give in to the whispers that fill your very mind, encouraging and cajoling you to give into the dark blessings of power bestowed upon you by the very foul things you slew so long ago to make this world safe for people to walk. You especially don't know what it feels like to leave behind someone you love more than life itself because you gave into your own greed, and know that she never gave in. I've been reminded of it by that thrice-accursed Malfean ever since I gave in; that foul thing will never let me forget that I was weak by giving in, that I was a failure, that I was terrible at every thing I ever loved doing, that the only thing I could be good at again was helping others to extinguish life, as killing was the one thing I was good at. For two hundred years, I was trapped in another cage, with nothing but the whispers of that accursed thing as company!"

Rosethorne thought for a few moments in silence once he had finished his outburst. "So you crave that which you cannot have, now?"

He was silent for a while before responding again, in a lower voice, filled with an undercurrent of anger. "I crave that which I once had. Ever since you went to the surface and felt the sun on your skin, I felt it too, and remembered with stark clarity what it once was like to not be trapped in this place of darkess and death."

She began to think that perhaps, just perhaps, the Mask of Winters was right. Her Essence was tempting her to serve his own ends, which brought her into conflict with those she served. Once served, Rosethorne amended to herself. She still wasn't sure what she should do.

His voice was quieter now. "The real question isn't a real one. The real question is a metaphorical one: if the chance came for you to leave this place and return to the sunlit lands, and leave this place behind, would you do it?"

She couldn't help but sound a little sarcastic. "There is no way I am escaping this place without help, and there is no help coming. Thinking of such things is dangerous."

Rosethorne could almost see his smile. "You didn't answer my question."

She sighed, and gave it at least a moment's thought. "Fine. In the highly unlikely...no, impossible chance that someone will ride in on a white horse and save me, I might consider it, yes."

"Then I ask you this: just be patient. Don't make any decisions for at least a month; I know you can hold out that long."

Her eyes narrowed again. "Why a month?"

He was silent for a few moments. "It seems like a reasonable amount of time to wait. If nobody comes, then I admit to being wrong, and you can do what you think is best with no argument from me."

She took a deep breath as she considered. "Fine. I can hold out a month, for the impossible chance of rescue."

"Good." He paused for a few moments in silence. the only sounds in this place being the whispering touch of shadows touching each other. "You're not a dead being, you know."

With that, she awoke, angered at him having the last word yet again. She felt pulled in two different directions; one she knew and was familiar with, even though she was never quite happy. The other was unknown and frightening, and burned her, but it drew her like a moth to a flame anyway. The last option...yes, she could simply take her own life, and escape the decision. Her jaw set in annoyance. However, the option of suicide was the coward's way, and she would not take that route.

A few days passed; she was unaware of the passage of time in this place, so she was only guessing at how long she'd been trapped here in this machine. Days? Hours? Years? In any case, it seemed almost like an eternity. She still stubbornly kept silent and unmoving, even as Greta's skillful imagination and hands performed unspeakable agonies upon her already tormented body.

She was feeling weak, and numbed. Her ferocious strength seemed to be a fading memory of another time. She couldn't even really feel the soft breezes any longer, all that she really felt was the pain she did her best to separate herself from. Sight and hearing seemed to slowly become irrelevant, as the Mask of Winters or Greta only used her sight and hearing to impress upon her that this agony was for her own good; her own purification. It certainly seemed as if that week in the sunlit lands was a dream, for she only remembered parts of it. Kale's amused look became more indistinct and dreamlike. Had it simply been a dream?

The Mask of Winters glided in with purpose then, and moved himself to look into her face from up close. She could barely feel the warmth-stealing cold from his mask any longer. "Why do you simply endure, instead of trying to trancend the pain and learn what I have placed before you to see?"

Her tongue felt thick and dry in her mouth. She doubted she could give a reply even if she wanted to. She chose not to try, and instead look past the Mask of Winters, staring at the ceiling.

His eyes seemed to narrow behind his mask. "My patron is becoming impatient. It wishes to see you reach this level of understanding sooner, rather than later. Perhaps it disapproves of my rather gentle methods of doing so."

Rosethorne couldn't quite hide her look of utter incredulity. On the contrary, this was far, far worse than the month she had previously been trapped here, to be tortured at her captor's whim.

The Mask of Winters spoke, as if reading her thoughts. "I am trying to help you to learn and see what you must learn and see in the most direct method possible, and yet you resist. Why?"

Rosethorne said nothing, returning her face to a neutral look, staring at the ceiling once again. The Mask of Winters stood upright, and seemed to give her a baleful gaze. "Very well. Just remember that my ways of helping you to trancend your own frailties are but a caress next to what my patron will do to you. It will show you the error of your thinking far faster than I would, as I believe the person must reach their own conclusions, and learn by themselves. My patron is not as...merciful."

Rosethorne barely had time to swallow before the world went black. She realized with a start that she was no longer bound to the contraption; her arms, legs, and body were free. But this happy realization was short-lived, as she realized she was falling. She seemed to be falling through pure, inky blackness, her eyes unable to penetrate even the shortest distance in the gloom.

The Mask of Winters smiled behind his mask as he saw the torture chair suddenly vacant. He glided back into his throne room, seating himself comfortably on his throne. He smiled wider as he kew that the errant Abyssal was no longer his concern, though his patron would give him back the pure Abyssal Essence of her when it was finished with her.

He gave into a dusty chuckle as he could only imagine the torment that awaited her. He had heard of only one other being falling foul of a Malfean's wishes, and that being was the first Deathlord; far older and far more resilient than a pitiful Abyssal could ever be. He knew that his patron would prolong her agony as long as it wished, and it was no longer a matter of her resisting. It was now a matter of how long his patron wished her agony to endure. He gave into loud, wheezing laughter.

He never noticed the innocuous, silent figure darting through his throne room, and behind his chair. Into the Malfean Labrynth.

With a sickening squishing noise, she hit a surface. With growing horror, she realized that she had fallen onto a huge group of large, primeaval snakes, all as black as the darkness around her. She feebly tried to escape the uncountable serpents, but they seemed to move as if controlled by a single hive mind. They wound around her legs and arms tightly, slamming her back down with breath-stealing force, and holding her there.

To her rising panic and horror, she felt two smaller snakes worm their way into her ears. Two more bit deeply into her eyes, turning the inky backness around her into a universe of sparkling lights. One forced itself into her mouth as she opened her mouth to scream, the primordial serpent sinking its fangs deeply into the back of her tongue.

Two more burrowed into her hands and up into her forearms, biting into the bone. Two snakes burrowed into each of her thighs, one biting into the bone, the other into the muscle of her leg. One snake burrowed into each of her feet, gnawing their way up into her calves. Even though there were two snakes with their fangs still in her eyes, her eyebrows widened as she felt herself invaded by two more snakes.

A voice seemed to crawl from the mouths of the snakes in her ears. This voice seemed to change from a baleful whisper that made her want to die no longer endure hearing it's hateful caress into her mind, into a loud scream that made ever nerve in her body that was still able to feel recoil in horror. "yOu ARe mINe NOw, cHIld oF tHe abYsS. yOur esSENcE cAnNOt hIDe yoUr mInD FRoM mE anY lONgEr, AnY loNgER. YOU ArE MINe, NoW!"

The voice sounded almost exultant. She knew within the depths of her soul that this thing was older, far older, than even her Deathlord. If she was able to shed tears before this, the venom in her eyes made them swell large enough to prevent her tear ducts from working at all. She couldn't scream, as even that small luxury was taken from her. Her nose had not been invaded, but this meant that since all her other senses were so suddenly dulled, the reek of decay and death around her was almost too strong to bear.

Even so, she knew what she must do in order to avoid going quickly insane from the pain and indignity. She concentrated on her breathing, slowly entering mediation.

"yOu cANNot rEtrEaT iNto yoUr mInd, rOSEthOrnE. YOuR miND is MinE to dO wiTh aS I wIsh!" The voice seemed to try pulling her back out of her mediation, but she stubbornly kept going.

"It may have entered your mind and body, but it cannot claim your soul. Not until you give in." His voice was soft, but she knew from feeling it that he was speaking directly into her soul. This was as close and direct as communication could ever be, realizing that her body's hearing was now taken over by this...thing.

In her mind, she smiled. She still felt the horrific pain and swelling agony that beat through her like a second heartbeat, but it was more at a distance now; enough to concentrate on other things.

"dO nOT LIStEn tO ThE liEs of An olD fOol. YoU arE bEYond rEdemPtiOn nOw, cHilD. tHe ONly thInG tHaT cAn sAVe YOu noW is rEAliZIng thAT i aloNe cAN giVE you rELeASe anD tRAncENdanCE, RElEAse AnD tRanCENDancE!"

She heard her Essence's voice again, but in her ears. "I'm sorry, but I cannot save you. Resistance is useless, as the Malfean has you now. Just pray it doesn't take long."

Rosethorne heard the same voice, but echoing through her very soul. "Though it's a little late to remind you of your promise, don't give up yet. Someone comes."

Her mind was awhirl. Which was the real voice? Which did she want to be the real voice? She heard his voice in her ears once more. "A Malfean trick, don't listen. There is nobody coming to save you now. Don't hold onto foolish hope."

His voice again came to her, echoing softly and less forcefully than the one in her ears. "Choose which voice is real after I give you my sight. See for yourself."

Past the crashing fireworks that danced in the darkness of her corrupted and fouled eyes, she saw...something else. She focused on it, and though it was strange, it was an image. She could see all around her in this dark, huge chamber, but she couldn't focus in on any one area. She saw one large sarcophagus, which she knew she was held within and under. But what...something...something was moving just beyond the edge of her vision, and it was growing closer.

His voice echoed in her ears again. "Don't you see? It's just trying to give you hope to destroy it! It wants to give you something to pin far-fetched hopes on, just to shatter them later. Don't listen!"

The voice that made her want to be anywhere but here spoke up again, seeming to echo throughout her mind. "fOR oNCe i aGRee wIth tHe wEak fOOl wHo gAVe yOu eXALtAtiOn. hE bEgINs to sEe hIs fOLly!"

Her Essence's voice in her ears paused a moment, and agreed. "Yes, I was wrong to have chased a fool's dream. Don't make my mistake, Rosethorne."

Even through the conversation, she still concentrated on the image. The figure was darting swiftly and silently into the chamber now. She could see the figure's face now, and her eyebrows widened in surprise. What did Kale think he was doing here?

Her Essence's voice filled her ears once more. "It's a trick of the Malfean, don't you see? He's giving you a false image that springs from its own imagination!"

She noticed with deepening gloom that she hadn't heard his voice within her soul any longer. Perhaps the voice she heard of his in her ears was the true one. But then, she heard it. His voice was strained, and soft. "Decide for yourself. You see how I am able."

The Malfean's grating voice seemed to echo throughout her mind, and throughout the entire chamber. "fOoL! HOw dArE YOu INvAde mY chAmbERS!"

In the vision, she saw Kale replying, his face a stony mask of determination. "Give her to me, and I'll leave."

"THe FoOL DArEs tO AsK FOr WHaT hE cANNoT haVE! GrEeT MY rEWaRd fOR sUCH aUdAcITY!"

Rosethorne shuddered as a huge figure seemed to congeal from the shadows in the center of the room. She recognized him, even in the vision. He was an Abyssal, if in name only. His body was huge, far larger than any human had a right to be, with hugely muscled oversized arms. She had only seen or heard of him twice, but he was said to be able to tear soulsteel swords and other weapons like paper with his bare hands. There were rumors that this Child of Oblivion was actually much older than the five years other Abyssals had been in existence, though his exact age of Exaltation was a matter of pure conjecture.

The huge, hulking figure appeared in the dead center of the room, his giant-like frame growing slightly larger and smaller as he breathed audibly. Kale turned his head slightly to the giant Abyssal, and spoke in clipped tones. "Get out of my way. Now."

The behemoth of a man just stood there, growling menacingly from deep within his cavernous chest. His growl slowly grew in volume, just before he rushed with shocking speed at Kale. Unable to blink or avert her eyes, Rosethorne watched with horrified fascination as the giant Child of Oblivion swung his massive fist at Kale...who was suddenly no longer there.

Her eyes widened again slightly, ignoring the voices seeming to crawl into her ears, and concentrating on the vision alone. She noticed with surprise that Kale was suddenly near the sarcophagus, looking concerned at the huge size of the lid. A small, grim smile flitted about his mouth briefly as he looked away from the sarcophagus, and toward the giant Abyssal. "Hey, you fatass bitch! Over here!"

With a roar that shook even the ancient soulsteel stones of this room, he charged at Kale, and swung another massive fist at where Kale's body was. Rosethorne wanted to close her eyes, to not see him get killed...But Kale was once again no longer there, the giant's fist slamming deep into the stone lid of the sarcophagus. The lid broke with an audible crack, one of the halves falling backward and off the coffin.

She noticed with further surprise that Kale was now on the other side of the room, grinning at the highly angry Abyssal, who promptly rushed at him. Kale's voice seemed to echo throughout the room as the Abyssal's fist met nothing but air, and the barely-yielding rock. "Never fought a ghost, huh fatass?"

Kale seemed to reappear in front of the huge stone opened sarcophagus, looking intently inside. From her point of view, she was looking at the back of Kale's head as he looked within the huge stone coffin. Her eyes widened again as she saw some of herself past him, and she saw the snakes that covered every inch of her body. Her still-poisoned abdomen gave a lurch at the sight.

The huge Abyssal had now reached the other side of the room, and was looking around, bewildered. Kale yanked out his huge blade, which now seemed to glow; softly at first, but brighter, and brighter still, filling the room with a strong, soft golden light. The snakes bit deeply into every part of her body, within and without, trying to hold on. He moved the blade closer, and the snakes as one withdrew from her body, hissing angrily as they retreated to the deeper parts of the coffin.

She couldn't see his face from her point of view, looking down, but she could see the slight shudder that went through him once he saw her body. He set his jaw determinedly as he grabbed her, pulled her out of the primordial snake-filled sarcophagus, wrapped her in his cloak, and promptly began rushing for the exit.

She felt her senses slowly returning to her body, the sense of each swift step seeming to jar her entire being as Kale ran. She still couldn't hear or see, let alone speak, but somehow she knew the giant Abyssal had seen Kale. His roar of anger seemed to make her entire body shake, with each vibration of his huge footfalls growing stronger, and stronger still.

Her sense of touch slowly returned, and she felt Kale's arms around her, cradling her within his cloak. "This must be another dream..." she thought to herself, as darkness claimed her.

Long, silent strides kept Kale going at a furious pace out of forbidding snake thing's mausoleum, and away from the giant smelly thing that might have once been human. The monstrosity's huge, booming footsteps grew more and more faint as he ran, but he didn't slow down in the least. The hulking monstrosity could probably take him apart rather simply with his gigantic hands. If the hulking brute managed to catch him, that is, which wasn't going to happen.

Looking at his surroundings as he bolted out of its lair, he began to despair as he realized that this strange labyrinth had changed itself since he had run into this place. Even though Melia had been able to give him warm or cold feelings to help lead him to Rosethorne unerringly, he had checked the path he had taken carefully. Now that he had found her, however, he had no such compass to find his way back out, and the labyrinth had changed. Kale gritted his teeth in frustration.

Seeing a large, column-like structure, Kale ducked behind it to get his bearings, and re-adjust the precious cargo in his arms. He didn't hear the great, shuddering footsteps of the fat behemoth anymore, so he hoped he was safe for now. Even so, he didn't rest for very long. Kale checked on Rosethorne, being gentle and careful, so as to not to jar or bump any wounded part of her. She was asleep now, for which he was thankful, though he couldn't get the image of her covered and filled with snakes out of his mind. He shuddered again at the thought, shaking his head. He didn't understand why she had been treated this way, but he didn't care what the reason was. Nobody should have to go through that.

Just to reassure himself, he felt for a pulse on her wrist. There was one, but very soft. He wondered worriedly if that was normal for her, being half-dead as she normally was plus being actually half-dead from her recent experiences. Her skin was cold, so very cold. Kale found himself hoping that she wasn't dying. Not after what he'd had to do to rescue her.

"Melia!" He shouted in his mind, hoping she could reply somehow in this deep place. He didn't hear or feel an answer from her other than a faint warm feeling, which didn't do anything to improve his mood. He took a few deep, slow breaths as he tried to calm and center himself, which worked somewhat. He adjusted his grip on the pale woman in his arms, making sure she was wrapped comfortably in his cloak before he took off again.

Long stone staircases illuminated with a hard, ominous light had replaced the long, gloomy, and dimly lit passageways of before. No matter which way he turned, he got the sneaking suspicion he had turned the wrong way, and was now hopelessly lost. He gave vent to his frustration and rising panic by kicking idly at an innocent rock, aiming for the yawning chasm nearby.

As the rock skipped out of the way, it seemed to rebound back in an arc, melding into a wall near Kale. He looked rather suspiciously at the rock-eating wall, noticing that lettering was beginning to appear.

"Give up one thing you call precious, and speak aloud your destination."

Kale glared at the inscription at first, and then relaxed as he thought. He frowned as he realized that he didn't necessarily have to give up on the woman he had tried so hard to rescue, but did have to give up something else he thought was precious. As he thought of the things he had on him that were precious, the list was depressingly short. There was Melia's strange sword, her trademark bow, and his bracer.

As he remembered Melia's bow, he sighed. It had helped him much more than once. Indeed, it had been partially responsible for travelling with the woman now in his arms. Kale remembered using it to lay low a good portion of her undead army as well, though he didn't know it was hers at the time. He smirked briefly at the thought, remembering their heated conversation about it afterward. His face quickly grew grim once again as his mind returned to the task at hand.

He ducked down to a crouch to rest Rosethorne's battered body partially on his lap as he took the bow quickly off his shoulder, and looked at it. He held it gently, and closed his eyes as he released the essence he had used to attune it to him. It seemed to dull and age as the essence left the bow, looking like a forlorn relic of a forgotten time. Which it was, but now it looked the part.

Shaking his head, he threw the bow over the side, and into a chasm. Kale called aloud, but not too loudly: "I name the throne room of the Mask of Winters!"

A low grinding noise filled his ears as one of the columns began to unwrap itself almost like an orange, changing into a spiral staircase to a door above. He gently picked Rosethorne's unconscious form up once more, and jogged quickly up the unwinding staircase. With relief, he saw the same arched doorway he had come into this place through, and began running toward it eagerly.

Hearing footsteps from beyond the door, he skidded to a halt, looking wildly for a place to hide. Finding another column somewhat near the door, he raced behind it and flattened himself against the wall as much as he could with the woman in his arms. His eyes widened slightly as he saw a figure appear. The figure wore a long, grey cloak, and a metallic mask that covered the figure's entire face. The mask had the image of a grinning skull on it, slightly mis-shapen. Kale's eyes narrowed and his jaw tightened as he realized who this figure was. The Mask of Winters.

Kale observed the Mask of Winters glide down the stairs, going the direction Kale had come only a short time before. He realized with a sinking feeling that the Mask of Winters and that...thing were probably connected somehow. If this was the case, then he had even less time than he thought. However, he couldn't help but glare at the back of the being that had been responsible for so much going awry in his life. Someday, he thought. Someday, there will be a reckoning.

As soon as the Mask went down the last step, Kale dashed silently toward the open door, hoping the doorway wouldn't change before he got there. Thankfully it didn't, and he appeared behind the throne of the Mask of Winters. He peeked out from behind the throne carefully and in all directions, listening intently as well. Satisified that he had heard and seen nobody, he quietly made his way back out the way he had come.

There was nobody in the throne room itself, though his senses old him there were wraiths invisible to his normal vision. He closed his eyes, and shifted his vision. The lurch he felt made his stomach turn, but when he opened his eyes, he could perceive the wraiths by the doorway. He took a deep breath as he channeled a little more essence into masking his scent, any sound he made, and his life's energy. Kale hoped it would be enough to fool the wraiths.

Kale crept from behind the throne, and moved slowly to behind the nearby columns. He hadn't seen the wraiths move yet, which he hoped meant that they hadn't seen him. The rotes he was using depended upon him moving slowly to avoid being seen. He had to fight his natural impulse to grind his teeth in frustration at having to move so slowly, when he knew the Mask of Winters would most likely become aware that his former general was once again gone, and probably wouldn't be very pleased.

Like a gentle breeze in the dark, dismal place, he moved past the wraith guards, and down the stairs. To his rising frustration, he heard a patrol of guards coming toward his location. He darted into an alcove, and thought furiously. He gently stood Rosethorne up while holding his arms around her to keep her upright, covered she and he both with his long, dark cloak, and hoped that the group of heavily-armed guards that clanked by didn't see them. He breathed a long and silent sigh of relief as they marched right on by, allowing him to carefully pick up and cradle Rosethorne in his arms once more, dashing swiftly and silently out of the castle.

Soon, he had remembered the way he had come in well enough to leave via the side entrance. He stuck close to the castle walls as he crept as quickly as he dared back toward the Shadowland, and home. The large squadron of soldiers he had seen as he had swept silently into the castle were now gone, the grounds empty. Kale took another silent breath as he hoped that was a good sign. He kept himself flush against the castle walls as he moved as quickly as he dared without attracting attention.

Soon enough, he had run out of castle walls to hide behind. He knew that he would be searched for shortly, so he knew he had to hurry. What concerned him is that he was beginning to feel tired from all the essence he had channeled to make his escape successful. He knew he didn't have much left, and he most certainly didn't want to try drawing on the essence of this place to help him. Perhaps it was Melia's account of how the essence of this place had corrupted people she knew, but he was loathe to try, just in case.

Kale decided to simply keep his anima active slightly to stifle the senses of anyone looking for him, and hope it was enough. He took a few breaths to calm himself, and dashed into the open ashen plains, racing toward the Shadowland two miles away. As fast as he was running, he knew he had little time. This feeling was confirmed as he heard faint shouts of alarm, shortly followed by the angry buzzing sound of arrows flying through the air.

The first volley fell short, but he began to dodge and weave as he ran, hoping to evade his pursuers and continue not being hit. Angry buzzing noises like a flock of angry hornets grew louder as more arrows fell. Kale grunted as one of them found its mark in his lower back. The arrow seemed to be actually chewing deeper into his back as he ran, which nearly made him stumble in pain.

Kale felt that the arrow was moving slightly, and then felt it being yanked sharply out of his back, causing him to gasp in pain. With surprise, he saw Rosethorne's long, pale arm reached around him as he glanced down. Her eyes were still swollen closed, but her face was turned toward him. She made a hoarse croaking noise, which was the best she could manage under the circumstances, he figured. He noticed that she held her hand over the wound in his back. The wound hurt a bit more, and then a bit less before gradually fading away altogether.

Even afterward, she kept that arm held around him, looking sightlessly up at him. "Thanks, I needed that," Kale gasped as he kept running as fast as he could. She made another croaking noise in reply. More arrows fell around him, but thankfully he hadn't been hit by this volley. The Shadowland became visible in the distance, looking mostly like the surrounding ashen dark place, except for the uncomfortable and rather scary fact that the entire area seemed to move, shimmer, and twist. It's darkness seemed to undulate not unlike a heart beating. He shuddered again as he was reminded of what had lain within that large coffin, and shook his head to clear his mind of the memory. He couldn't afford to be distracted. Not now.

As he neared the inky, sparkling blackness of the Shadowland, he noticed that quite a few troops were stationed around it. He frowned as he saw them, and decided that the best and quickest route around them was through them. Reaching this decision, he pushed himself to run just a little bit faster, adjusting his grip around Rosethorne's body to keep a good grip on her. He saw with growing concern that the gem in his bracer was glowing only weakly and flickering intermittently, the essence needed to power it nearly gone. That meant that he was nearly exhausted as well. As if to punctuate this depressing discovery, a stitch of pain began growing in his side as he began panting for breath. The troops noticed him, pointing and shouting as he approached, but he was able to dart swiftly by the confused troops before they could try to stop him properly. The angry shouts rose in volume behind him, but faded away quickly as he outpaced them. Just a few more long strides, and he entered the Shadowland.

The life-stealing cold surrounded him as he fought his way through the tangible darkness. It seemed to give way reluctantly as he pushed through. He grimly kept running, pushing against the shadowy place. It seemed to push back, trying to push him back the way he had come, but he was running too fast to be slowed down too much. He fought down a triumphant shout as he saw the light on the other side of the Shadowland appearing distantly. It grew larger as he pressed on, giving him enough hope to push that much harder as he ran. Soon enough, he darted out the other side, right outside the walls of Thorns.

Kale immediately heard shouts of alarm, but he didn't slow down in the slightest. He darted into the smaller crevasses of the canyon, using them for cover as he navigated his way away from the fallen city. However, the stitch in his side had spread, causing his chest to feel like a fiery cavern of agony as he gasped for breath. However, he didn't dare stop until he was in a place where he could see people coming from all sides. He ran directly near the grove of cherry trees on the hill nearby. He smiled grimly as he remembered what had happened the last time he had been here, despite the growing numbness in his limbs.

For the second time in recent memory, he set Rosethorne carefully down near the trees. Had it only been two weeks ago? This time however, all she was wearing over her battered and horribly wounded body was his cloak, though he did smirk at the thought of not having to relieve her of her weapons this time. He gasped for breath for a minute or two, the stitch in his side slowly growing less insistent. When he had caught his breath, he checked on Rosethorne, making sure she wasn't hurt any more than she was when he found her.

Her eyes were still swollen shut, though the swelling had gone down somewhat. The wounds in her hands and feet were slowly healing. The blood from her ears had dried, the blood retreating back into her ears. Despite his concern, he didn't check the rest of her. Might as well leave her some dignity, he thought. He admitted that he felt the temptation deep down, but it would be dishonorable to do so.

She looked sightlessly toward him, and made another croaking noise, one of her arms mimicking the sign for drinking. Taking his canteen from around his neck, he gently poured a little water into her mouth. She swallowed, and grimaced before smacking her lips slightly. She seemed to relax a little, her head tilting to she side limply. Kale shook his head, smirking. At least she wasn't asking for blood.

His smirk vanished as she moved her head to look at him blindly once more, making another croaking noise that sounded something like "lud." Kale closed his eyes and shook his head, sighing. The things he did for dead damsels in distress. He looked and listened carefully all around him, and didn't see or hear anything nearby. There was a patrol of Immaculate soldiers arguing in the distance with a group of the undead soldiers. He hoped the Immaculate guard would stall the undead.

After noticing no immediate danger, he moved his wrist over by her mouth, making a grimace of distaste. He felt his wrist touch her cool lips, and he felt those lips open in response. He looked away, trying not to notice the feeling of her mouth opening slowly wider, and feeling fangs pressing against the skin of his wrist. He supressed a shudder as he felt her fangs sink into his wrist, followed swiftly by her suckling gently. She stopped after only a few seconds, which surprised him. Kale's eyes grew a bit wider as he felt her cool tongue touching his wrist, gently licking where her fangs had been. He looked back at her, in time to see the last hint of her fangs disappearing into her mouth once more. She murmured a croaking "ank oo" before her head gently fell to the side.

Kale looked at his wrist wonderingly, seeing no scars or puncture wounds, though it was a little pale. He looked at her once again, smirking again as he noticed no blood around her mouth. Her breathing seemed to be becoming regular and steady, which made him feel more relieved. He gently picked her limp form up once more as he prepared to dash off once again. Now that he had caught his breath and Rosethorne seemed to be okay, it was time to leave.

But where would he take her that would be safe? "Hi, could you take care of this woman? I know she's stark naked and a bloody mess, and I can't tell you why, but could you treat her anyway?" He rolled his eyes as he jogged swiftly. Yeah, that would go over well.

Kale almost jumped out of his skin as he felt a cool hand lay gently on top of his arm. He glanced down as he ran, seeing Rosethorne looking sightlessly toward him once more. She tried speaking once more, coughed, and then said in a very hoarse voice, "Jus' take me to a quiet place, please. I'll heal."

He shook his head slightly in wonderment. Damn, this woman healed fast. "Alright. The inn at Ayodha should be quiet. Will you be okay there?"

She shook her head slowly, and somewhat painfully, it appeared. She coughed painfully once more before trying to speak once more. He ducked behind a few trees as he gently laid a finger over her lips. "It's okay, I remember. The resonance thing, right?"

She nodded gratefully, and squeezed his arm gently. He lifted her once more, exhaling slightly. Despite being an Abyssal and therefore half dead, she was a tall woman; only a few inches shy of being as tall as he was. He had to adjust his cloak around her feet once more to make sure they were covered, both for warmth and to keep her paleness hidden.

Kale frowned as he thought further. His cabin was probably out of the way enough, though Immaculates might still be in the area. He reasoned that they probably wouldn't be especially sympathetic to the situation either. He grumbled to himself as he thought, his list of options growing quite short. "If it's clear, what about my cabin?"

Rosethorne nodded slightly. "'S'fine." Her head rolled to the side once more, looking like she was resting once more. However, Kale noticed that she hadn't removed her cool, pale hand from his arm. He hoped that was a good sign. He didn't run at top speed through the woods he had grown up within, despite his knowledge of every shrub and tree in the area. Kale moved at a cautious, silent jog, making sure to look all around and above him.

Reaching his cabin was the work of only a few minutes, scouting around it cautiously the work of a few more. Satisifed that there seemed to be nobody around at all, he crept inside his cabin, his eyes searching the cabin for anything out of place. Satisfied once more at seeing nothing out of the ordinary anywhere in the cabin, he tried to get her attention with a soft voice. "Rosethorne?"

At first, she didn't move. After a moment though, she slowly turned her head to look at him sightlessly, her eyes still swollen shut. "Mm?"

Kale took a deep breath, hoping she would be okay with someone helping her with her wounds. "I should to look your wounds over, and see if you'll be okay before I go to sleep."

She nodded to him, which set his mind at rest. Somewhat. He gently laid her down on top of the covers of the big bed, and began making a mostly smokeless fire in the fireplace, as he didn't want to attract any undue attention. He checked on her periodically, satisfied that she was dozing. Once the fire was hot enough, he began heating some water for a bath.

Soon enough, the large tub was filled with hot water. He gently grabbed her hand to try waking her gently. "Rosethorne? I need to wake you to tell me if the water is too hot for you."

She moved her head to face him, even though her eyes were still closed. She nodded, and squeezed his hand gently. He removed his hand, and gently picked her up, still wrapped in his cloak, and carried her over by the tub. "Okay. stick out your left arm, and let it drop. Tell me if that's too hot for you."

Her long, pale arm slowly emerged from the depths of the cloak, and she squinted her closed eyes slightly in concentration as she moved it slowly downward, until it met the water. She jerked her hand back up much faster, and turned her head toward him. "'S'hot."

Kale smirked. Figures. He gently set her down on the bed once more, and began stirring the bathwater with a large cooking ladle to help it cool faster. He stopped once it was only a little more than lukewarm, and carried her back over to test it. She reached down to test it once more, and nodded this time.

He carried her back over onto the bed, and began unwrapping his cloak, now somewhat sticky with coagulated blood. The smell of decayed and dead things attacked his nostrils as the last fold of the cloak was pulled away, revealing her battered body in the darkness of the cabin.

Kale lit a lantern to look at her more carefully, shuddering as he saw what had happened to her in much better light than before. He saw the many wounds the snake-things had done to her, and a couple older ones as well. There was a barely-healed wound above her navel that seemed to bubble angrily with the same black substance he saw within her badly-wounded right thigh, which seemed to be broken. With a sinking feeling, he doubted the black stuff was there to facilitate healing.

He decided to take off his jacket, setting it on the wooden peg by the door. He gently picked her up once more, the coolness of her skin being more apparent now. He slowly crouched over the tub, letting her feet touch the water first. At first, they jerked back, but extended into the water. He gently lowered the rest of her into the tub, causing the water to begin swirling with red and black after she had settled.

Reaching for a sponge, he began bathing her. A tear formed in his eye as he helped clean her many wounds, his jaw tightening at the thought of even some of this being done to anyone, let alone all that had happened to her. He noticed she winced slightly sometimes as he gently moved the sponge over some of her wounds, so he made sure to be more gentle over those parts, especially her thigh. Now that it was clean, he could tell that a part of her thighbone was missing, and not just broken. He closed his eyes and shook his head, suppressing the urge to grind his teeth in anger at the thought of someone being so heartless and cruel to do this to someone, no matter the reason.

Kale felt her cool hand gently lay on his arm once more, causing him to open his eyes and shake off his reverie. She had her face turned toward him, smiling slightly. She spoke hoarsely. "Bad, huh?"

He nodded, before feeling like an idiot for realizing she couldn't see him. "Yeah. There's actually a part of the bone missing."

Rosethorne nodded slowly, though she didn't remove the hand from atop his arm. "I'll be fine," she said with a gentle squeeze of her hand.

Kale hoped she wasn't just putting on a brave face. Anyway, she was done now. "Now for the fun part: I'm going to grab your hands and help pull you up, but you'll have to help with your good leg. Okay?"

She nodded, and reached out her arms as he got up. He gently but firmly grabbed ahold of her hands, and pulled her slowly upright. Her leg shook slightly as she began standing upright, and began collapsing underneath her. He swiftly moved forward and held her upright with his arms around her waist, and helped her to stand.

For a moment, time seemed to stand still as their faces were inches apart. She moved her head forward and slightly to the side, softly rubbing his cheek with hers before laying her head on his shoulder. He took a silent breath as he gently picked her up once more, and dried her off before carrying her back to the bed. Pulling back the goosedown comforter and blue cotton sheet, he helped her lay down as softly and gently as he could, to avoid hurting her leg any more. Once she had laid down completely, Kale walked over to one of the chests of drawers, pulling out a few bandages.

He walked over to her, and gently wrapped her thigh, covering both the huge and deep bite marks left by the snakes, as well as the large gap where part of the bone had been removed, and replaced with the black, oozing liquid that burned his finger terribly when he had barely touched it. He turned his attention to her other thigh, noticing that it had the two large holes as well, though at least it wasn't broken like her right thighbone was. He finished his work by wrapping smaller bandages around her hands and feet.

Kale looked at her face for a moment before getting up once more, surprised to see that she was smiling slightly. He wondered about that as he got up to get a large green nightshirt for her, and carried it back to the bed before crouching at its side. "Rosethorne, I'm going to need to help you stand once more, so I can put a nightshirt on you. Okay?"

She nodded slightly, and extended her arms to him again. He clasped her hands, gently pulling her upright, and helped her into the shirt before helping her back underneath the covers. Her head hit the pillow softly, and her face seemed to relax peacefully. He smiled softly as he saw this, taking a deep breath as he realized that his mission was completely over. Making himself some tea as he sat down in the large, comfortable armchair, he thought about what the hell he had just done, and what the repercussions would be. As he finished his tea and set it on the table beside the chair, he settled himself back into the chair, losing himself in thought, and finally, in dreams.

As Rosethorne slowly awoke, reality seemed distant, somehow. She tried to open her eyes, but discovered they were still swollen closed. All she could see were random sparks of light behind her eyelids that flickered in time with the small bursts of pain.

To fight down her slowly rising panic, she took inventory of herself. She realized she could hear now, and smell, and touch. She felt calmer now, but still wary. The last thing she remembered seeing were two evil, primordial-looking snakes that rose out of the darkness to strike into her eyes, grimly hanging on. After that, being as reliant as she was on her sight, things seemed dreamlike.

Reaching out with her hands to feel the area immediately around her, it didn't feel like a place she was familiar with. She did feel overheated though, and soon discovered why - a large blanket was spread over her, which she carefully pushed away from her, leaving the much thinner and more comfortable sheet over her still. She felt her face, and felt a bandage over her eyes. She quickly took a tactile inventory of herself, and discovered bandages in several places, all of which matched what she remembered of those...snakes. But where was she now? Who had put the bandages on her?

Carefully inhaling and smelling the area around her, she detected scents of tea, and a small hint of lavender from her own skin. She narrowed her eyebrows as she tried to figure out why. Slowly, hazy memories came back to her. The bright light she could feel, but not see causing the snakes to angrily slither out of her. The feeling of arms around her, picking her gently up, and the regular jarring as the person who carried her ran. Yes, things were becoming slightly lezz hazy now.

She remembered the events of the previous night more clearly now, though it was strange to remember things without her sight. She fought down her rising panic once more, as being blind horrified her. She took a few deep, slow breaths, and her heart rate slowed down once more. She lost herself in the events of last night, trying to learn what had happened. Exactly what had happened was still hazy, but she knew that her Essence was right - she had been rescued, just as he had predicted.

Although she had felt the tiny hope that Kale would be the one who would have rescued her, she had hidden away the hope from herself, considering it a pointless exercise. After all, what would he have gained from rescuing her? Besides, she had made it a point not to rely on anyone for anything, lest she be let down, as she had been in the past. She came to believe as she was being tortured that since she couldn't escape, this was her fate; she deserved nothing else.

However, here she was, in his cabin. She heard his soft, regular breathing from across the room. His breathing almost sounded heavy enough to be considered light snores, but not quite. She experimentally moved, and found that her right thigh as the most heavily bandaged. Still feeling the black ichor fighting her body's natural healing process within the space where part of her bone should have been, she winced as she felt it lightly. Remembering her stomach, she felt it as well, discovering that it had been bandaged just as carefully. As she breathed and moved, she could feel the black ichor swishing around below her lungs, trying madly to devour her from within. Her body was holding off the decay strongly, but it would be quite a while before she was healed completely.

She felt around until she found the edge of the bed, and slowly swung her body around until her legs were over the side, feeling the cool, polished hardwood under her bare feet. She sat upright, ignoring the sharp pains in her lower chest from the ichor that seemed to intensify as she moved. She set her hands on the edge of the bed, and straightened her arms, preparing to stand. She stood easily enough at first, but the pain from her legs flared and awoke, causing her to collapse.

She felt arms around her, catching her before she hit the floor, and a chuckle from behind her. Her body tensed as she tried to identify the person, but relaxed once she heard his voice. "You could have just waited, you know."

He moved his arms a little more around her waist as he sat behind her, and stood slowly, helping her do the same. He drew the arm of hers closest to him around his neck, holding his other arm around her waist. He helped her to move slowly a short distance, and then helped her sit in a cushioned chair. She tried replying, but her throat was still swollen, and all that came out was a rasping squeak.

A warm cup was pressed gently into her hands. She brought it to her nose, and inhaled, smelling a rich, earthy tea. She heard his voice in front of her once more, speaking in soothing tones. "The tea should help relax your throat, and help you to heal."

She tasted it experimentally at first. It wasn't burningly hot, just pleasantly warm as it gently flowed down her throat. It tasted of many things she couldn't identify, but it tasted pleasant. Calming. She tasted it again, trying to identify the many tastes that seemed vaguely familiar. She tried speaking experimentally again, hearing her voice come out as slightly hoarse and rasping. "How long was I asleep?"

He refilled her cup before replying. "You were asleep almost ten hours. I take it that's a long time for you?" She heard him taking a sip as well. Somehow, she felt...comforted by his presence, in a way she couldn't explain readily.

Rosethorne took another slow sip before replying, beginning to enjoy the taste of this nameless tea. "I haven't slept ten hours straight for a very long time." This earned her a chuckle.

Moving her head down, Rosethorne began to feel a bit embarassed. She was quite unused to doing what she was about to do. "Thank you."

She could almost see the questioning look in his eyes, before he replied in a curious tone of voice. "For what?"

She took another sip of her tea as she tried quickly to order her thoughts, finding them to be much less willing to follow orders than soldiers would have been. "For...the bandages. The tea." She spoke much more quietly now. "For saving me."

With her eyes sightless as they were, it was easy to imagine the gentle smile on his face as he replied. "And being willing to let you pretend to be a leech?"

Unable to keep a straight face, the corners of her mouth quirked upward. "I tried to be gentle, but thank you for that as well."

Hearing him chuckle quietly about it, she was thankful he wasn't angry about it, as he seemed to have had a strong aversion to it before. She took another sip of her tea as he replied once more. "Well, I figured you wouldn't have asked unless you really needed it."

She nodded as she finished the last of her tea, feeling her body warming pleasantly. She heard a splash of more tea being poured into her cup, in answer to the question she was about to ask. But why was he taking care of her like this? Why was he helping her? She decided she needed to know. "I'm quite grateful for you saving my life, but why did you save me? Why would you go to the Deadlands to just save me?"

The small splash of liquid being poured into another cup told her that Kale was refilling his own cup, as well. She couldn't blame him; this really was good tea. He paused for a while, apparently having the same difficulty putting his thoughts into words as she had. Or, more likely, he was deciding what parts to tell and what parts to leave out, as he had done in the past. "Part of it was that you were attacked and taken, right before my eyes. You had just saved my life, so it seemed fair to save yours right afterward, especially because what happened to you seemed far worse than what might have happened to me."

He paused for a moment, sipping his tea before he continued. There was a note of...sadness in his voice. "Besides, what happened to you shouldn't have happened to anyone."

Rosethorne's eyebrow quirked, even though her eyes were closed. "I find it amusing that you were willing to brave the Underworld, and even brave the Malfean Labyrinth itself, and yet you're having a hard time telling me all your reasons."

She couldn't see his face, but somehow, she got the feeling he was looking sheepish. "I think it's because I'm having a hard time dealing with the other reasons myself."

Deciding that this was the time for bluntness, Rosethorne took a sip of her tea, and asked him point blank. "Is it because you have feelings for me?"

She heard him take another sip of his tea before answering. "I find you attractive, yes, but also a little scary. In time, I could call you a friend, but I couldn't think of anything else until that point in time."

Rosethorne nodded slowly, as she discovered that this rather comfortable chair rocked back and forth. It seemed pointless to rock in place like this, but she found it oddly comforting. It made her stomach feel less queasy, for some reason. Her eyebrows narrowed as she tried to figure out this latest puzzle, being frustrated slightly at not having all the pieces. "If it's not that, then it must have been a very good reason for you to be willing to save a woman you barely know. What have you to gain by me staying alive?"

There was another pause, in silence this time. She heard him take a slow, deep breath. When he replied, it was in a soft, distant voice. "Most of it is because I remember you by a different name, long ago. Unless I'm missing my guess, you and your parents used to live around here, when you and I were both very young."

Her mouth dropped open in surprise. She thought furiously, remembering old memories. They seemed so distant, like they had come from another lifetime. A few memories surfaced of her as a little girl, playing with a boy about her age. A boy with unruly hair, who teased her, which caused her to promptly chase him through the forest, laughing all the while. Yes, she had another name then. But that name had been eaten by the Malfean. That name, along with her past, was dead to her as if it had never happened.

Noticing that he hadn't said anything while she remembered, she had to reply. She felt a little sad herself now. "I remember. But both that name and the little girl you knew are dead now."

Hearing him snort in derision, she smiled slightly. Even as a child, Kale had snorted like that when she or anyone else did something silly. "Alright, if she's dead now, she's still moving, sitting in my chair, and drinking tea."

She smiled slightly. "Is that your main reason for saving me both times? Because you remembered me as a childhood friend of long ago?"

"No. I saved you the first time...because the Essence within me told me you were...because she told me it would be a good idea, and I'd later find out why. Once I heard you speak, and saw you move, I remembered you. That's why I saved you the second time." His voice was gentle, and a little sad.

Her eyebrows narrowed once more. "Your Essence told me I was...what?"

She heard a sigh come from him, and a slight creaking of the wooden chair. He was leaning back, she guessed. "She knew there was already a sense of familiarity between you and I, but she wouldn't tell me what it was at first. However, she said that the Essence within you was...a good friend of hers."

Rosethorne was silent for a few moments, letting this new information fall into place, and hopefully form something cohesive. "Allow me to see if I understand. You saved me at the canyon the first time, after I had you shot at, because your Essence said she was a good friend of the Essence within me. You saved me the second time because you remembered me as a childhood friend, even after having not seen me since we were five and six years old?"

She could picture him nodding. "Yes."

Her eyebrows narrowed again. "Things can't just go back to how they were then, Kale. You can't magically turn back time to suddenly and happily have the girl you once knew as a friend once more. Too much has happened."

Her ears heard him chuckling drily. "Yes, I'd guessed that, seeing as unless my memory's suddenly going bad, you were the living child of a merchant and his wife. I see you again two decades later, and you're leading an undead army. I gathered that quite a few things changed, yes."

A smile appeared on her lips. "You haven't asked what happened since the day we moved away yet. Why?"

"For one thing, as you said, you're quite a bit different now than you were then. I figured you'd tell me once the time was right."

She narrowed her eyebrows again. "Don't you care what happened?"

Hearing the light scrape of the chair against the floor as he moved his chair closer to her, she looked blindly in the direction she thought he was sitting in now. His voice was closer, but softer. "Of course I care what happened, Aya. You were a happy, quick-minded girl last I saw you, replaced now by a somber, cold warrior of the Abyss, no less. But just because of that, because of the many, many changes that must have happened between then and now, you'd need to trust me again before you felt comfortable enough to tell me. For that, I'm willing to wait."

Rosethorne shook her head. "Don't call me by that name. As I said, that girl and her name died, eaten by the Malfean you just saved me from."

He sighed somewhere nearby. "Sorry. It's still just taking a little getting used to."

She paused for a moment, sipping a bit more of her tea before replying. "You're right, many things did happen. But Kale, you need to let the little girl you once knew die in your heart, as she's died in mine. Is that also why you saved me? So you could help me to live long enough to hear what had happened?"

"That was part of it, yes. But I'm not going to let you die if I can possibly help it. Not after I've found someone in my life that hasn't been taken from me after all. You have to understand - before I found you again, I thought that everyone I've ever cared about had died, in one form or another."

Rosethorne finished the last of her tea, the last of her sleepiness disappearing with it. "So you saved me the second time for selfish reasons?"

She could almost hear his jaw drop. "What the...Are you saying you'd rather I let you stay down there to die? To forget that I met you again?"

If she had her eyesight, she would have been staring at the floor. "Maybe it would have been better that way. I deserved to die, Kale. I failed as a general, as a warrior, as a retainer for my Lord. Perhaps...perhaps I would have been better off as an Essence to help my successor."

Hearing him snort again, she turned sightlessly to look at him questioningly. "I'm not taking you back. If after you've healed, you really want to go back, then fine. I'll help you to live, but I will not help you to die."

She shook her head. "Why do you selfishly want to keep me around, Kale? You saved me to keep a childhood memory alive."

He took a sharp breath. His voice sounded annoyed. "Yes, I selfishly tried to save someone I care about. What makes me feel so frustrated is that you don't seem to feel the same way." He sighed, pausing for a few moments, continuing in a calmer voice. "Can you honestly tell me that you'd be happier back in the clutches of that...that thing, rather than being alive and knowing you have a better chance of living?"

That caused her to sigh softly. It would be so easy to give into the darker thoughts swirling around in her mind, but the dream she had while in the torturous contraption came back to her. She felt trapped between two opposites. "I don't know."

Kale was silent for a while, probably thinking as she was. "Until you do know, I'll be here to help you." She heard a soft chuckle again from him before he continued. "And before you say it, since I know you're going to, you're not a burden. Please stop thinking that you are."

She closed her mouth, slightly shocked that he knew. Was it that obvious? "I'm...unused to being taken care of. By anyone."

Hearing him stand, she turned in his direction questioningly. He gently took her cup, and held her hands in his. She wondered slightly at the warmth from his hands. "Come on. I need to change your bandages."

She stood shakily, and he slowly helped her walk back to the bed. Hearing him walk over and open a drawer, and walk back, she relaxed onto the pillows. Her mind was awhirl with so many conflicting thoughts and feelings. Feeling him gently remove her bandages and more gently wash the parts of her body they had covered, she had the sudden thought that though she wasn't used to being taken care of, it was preferable to being treated so impersonally by a chiurgeon. His hands and touch were gentle, though swift. He was finished putting on new bandages almost before she knew that he had started.

Relaxing into the pillow, a wave of tiredness overcame her. She felt warm, and comfortable. Before she drifted off to sleep, she heard his voice whisper to her. "Don't worry about the future now. Just worry now about getting better. Sweet dreams."

She fell back into dreams, feeling comforted by the feeling of knowing he was nearby.

After she had fallen into sleep once more, and after making sure she was sleeping peacefully, Kale sat back down in his comfortable armchair, staring into the fireplace. At least now he was certain of who she was, but the differences between the happy, energetic, quick-witted and sometimes mean little girl he remembered, and the somber, cold shell she was now was very difficult to reconcile. He had seen bits and pieces of her old personality shine through sometimes as they had travelled in the past, but only briefly.

Kale leaned back in the armchair, pouring himself a different kind of tea than the one he'd given her to help her sleep and heal. Setting back the clay and wooden teapot onto it's clay plate, he leaned back once more with the hot tea cradled in his hands. It was true, the question of what the hell had happened to her was burning in his mind, but he meant what he told her - he didn't want to press her. He'd far rather she told him once they trusted one another for her to tell him freely.

Sighing before he took another sip of tea, he thought back to long ago, when things had seemed wonderful, like the happy times would last forever. He remembered her parents vaguely; a tall, willowy pale man with short black hair, and his warmer, kindly smiling wife. He had almost thought of them as his other parents, because of how often he saw them. Kale remembered Aya with stronger memories; of her thin, coltish frame, her bright blue eyes which seemed to complement her pitch-black hair. It reminded him of moonlight over the shadows, looking at her face. He and Aya played and raced in the forest, him teaching her what little he knew of the forest, and what lived and breathed within it, playing games of make-believe. Kale smirked now at how both of them wanted to be the swordsmen in their games of fantasy.

He remembered very clearly the tears in his eyes when she and her parents packed up their wagon, and prepared to leave once more. Her form seemed so tiny as she sat on the back of the wagon, her legs dangling over the edge.

"I'll be waiting for you!" He shouted to her as he ran along after the wagon, with tears in his eyes.

"I'll come back! I promise!" She yelled with a smile, though her own eyes were teary as well. He finally just sat down with a thump onto the road, watching the wagon grow smaller in the distance. He knew she and her family left on trips that took her father to distant lands to trade. Somehow, this time seemed wrong. Something didn't feel right about it at all, but he wasn't able to communicate this feeling, as he wasn't very sure of it himself.

Of course, it became more clear what his bad feeling was when weeks turned into months, and months turned into years, with still no sign of them.

Until only a few weeks ago, when he grudgingly gave into his Essence's suggestion, and was struck immediately by a strong sense of familiarity as he removed her helmet, seeing her long, black hair and willowy frame she'd inherited from her father. Her attitude was much darker, much colder, much more ominous, but some of her gestures and body language was the same. It took him a few days to be sure, but soon, he was certain of it.

Kale took another sip of his licorice and arrowroot tea as he thought. It seemed so frustrating that when he had found her at last, the last person he cared about that was still alive, she seemed reluctant to live. It made him want to throw his teacup against the wall in frustration. When he'd found her at last, after twenty years of thinking she was dead or gone, she turns up again, filled in heart and mind with death. Instead, he sighed heavily, wondering when life would begin to make sense.

His thoughts were interrupted at an officious-sounding knock at his door. He narrowed his eyes, as there were very few people who knew the location of this cabin. He walked soundlessly over to the door, and opened it part way. "Yes?"

Kale saw two men standing on his doorstep, both clad in commoner's clothes. One had a shaved head and intense eyes. His companion was a tall, broad man with a grim face. Neither seemed to carry any weapons. The shorter one spoke up first, his voice sounding rich and deep, like what you'd expect from one used to public speaking. "Is your name Kale?"

His eyes narrowed a little more. He didn't like the idea of having to move to someplace even more quiet and out of the way than he thought his cabin once was, especially if his fears were true about these two men. "Who wants to know?"

The taller, grimmer man spoke up next. "We were drawn to you because we were told you needed our help. My name is Morjin. I am a healer, among other things, and my companion is Gordray, a man of the cloth."

Kale didn't open the door any wider, not trusting either of these men in the least. Not with what he had on the line, such as being discovered as a Solar, among many other things. "That's very interesting, but I think you have the wrong cabin."

Morjin spoke up once more. "Have you heard of the Sun blessing anyone before, Kale?"

Kale stopped himself from slamming the door, now suspiciously curious. "I've heard of the stories, yes."

The shorter man, Gordray, sighed with impatience. "Oh, by the Sun's light. This tiptoeing is pointless." A brilliant, golden disc appeared on his forehead, shining softly. "Do you know what this means, Kale?" This earned him a warning glance from his taller companion, but he seemed not to notice.

Kale relaxed somewhat. "Yes, though I don't know what Caste you're from." His grip on the door relaxed slightly, though he kept himself ready for anything at this point.

Morjin smiled slightly. "You must either be a very learned scholar, or a Child of the Sun yourself to know of such things." His own Caste Mark appeared briefly; a golden disc like his companion's, but the lower half was an empty circle, reminding Kale of a sunset.

Kale opened the door wider. "All right, come in. But please, keep your voices down. A friend of mine is wounded, and in need of her sleep."

The two men entered, Kale closing the door after them. He faced the two men, looking at each in the eyes in turn. "Alright, so what do wandering priests and healers want to do with me?"

Morjin shook his head. "I do not know, Kale. What I do know is your name, and that you are a Solar as well. My companion here was told by the Unconquered Sun himself that you were in need of our assistance."

Kale raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh."

Morjin looked at Kale more carefully. "Were you told anything about what you are, Kale?"

Kale sighed, and sat down, inviting the two men to do the same. "Yes, I know what I am, I know what Caste I belong to, and most of the basics. However, I've never met another Solar before, so pardon my suspicions."

The two men seated themselves, Gordray looking over to the bed curiously, but not saying anything. Morjin spoke up once more. "Alright. This may seem nebulous to you then, but we often are given visions of things that must be done. Journeying here was part of my vision. What I do know is that the services of a healer and a priest are needed at this time, though I do not know why."

Kale nodded to himself, both men watching his reaction carefully. He spoke after a moment. "I'm not sure about a priest, but a proper healer would be handy, yes."

Morjin looked over by the bed, and looked back at Kale. "Is that woman the reason?"

Kale nodded. "She is...badly wounded, with most of her wounds far beyond my skill to heal."

Morjin looked inquiringly at Kale. "May I examine her? I'd like to know what I'm up against." He looked at his companion briefly, before looking at Kale once more. "My companion should also see, just to make sure that her illness and wounds aren't spiritual in nature as well."

Kale looked at the two of them for a moment before nodding. "Very well."

Gordray walked to one side of the bed, Morjin to the other. Morjin gently pulled the covers back, and saw the numerous bandages over her. He began gently removing them, and examining the wounds they hid, his eyebrows raising slightly. Kale noticed with some trepidation that Rosethorne stirred slightly in her sleep, though didn't awaken.

Morjin examined her carefully with a practiced air, finally looking up at Gordray first with surprise, then at Kale. "This...black substance in her stomach cavity and her leg. I've never seen it before, though it's corrosive effects are obvious. It's a wonder it hasn't done much more damage than it has."

This caught Gordray's attention, whose eyebrows rose as well. "It's a spiritual anger and hatred made manifest. It is by no means natural in origin."

Both men looked at Kale questioningly, who sighed. "She's an Exalt as well."

Morjin shook his head wonderingly. "These wounds don't look like they were received accidentally. It looks as if someone painstakingly did this to her." He looked at Kale questioningly once more. "She was tortured."

Kale nodded somberly. "She'd be dead now if I hadn't saved her."

Gordray looked at Rosethorne first, and then at Kale once more. "I can see two strong threads of familiarity and fate within you two. I can tell you are a Solar by your anima, though she..." He trailed off, as if trying to find the words.

Kale finished his sentence. "She's an Abyssal."

Both men's eyes widened as they looked at his grim face. Morjin spoke first, but hesitantly. "Then...how...did her own kind do this to her?"

Kale nodded. "They were going to torture her to death, as they considered her a failure. I wasn't going to let that happen."

Morjin shook his head as he examined Rosethorne a bit more closely before looking back at Kale. "Well, the good news is that she's an extremely fast healer. The black substance would normally have eaten her alive, but her body is regenerating slightly faster than it can corrode her. She will heal, but the substance will slow her healing greatly." He shook his head. "She should be healed completely within a few weeks, if I have anything to say about it."

Gordray spoke up, looking concerned at his friend. "What of the taint within her?"

Morjin's bushy eyebrows narrowed questioningly. "The black ichor is a spiritual taint as well?"

Gordray shook his head, uncertain. "I do not know. However, I do know that there is taint that holds her healing at bay far more than it should."

Morjin nodded slowly, then both men looked at Kale. Morjin spoke up. "If my companion is correct, and he usually is about these things, the taint within her should be purged as soon as possible to help insure her healing."

Kale looked at Rosethorne as she slept on, oblivious to the conversation that raged quietly around her. She seemed even more pale than normal as she lay there, unmoving. She seemed...smaller, somehow, as if a great weight was making her shrink within herself. Kale knew that this wasn't the case, but he couldn't help but imagine it. Finally, he nodded tersely.

Gordray raised his head and arms to the ceiling, as he began chanting softly, his eyes closed. He paused for a few moments, his lips still moving, though no sound was heard. Finally, his entire body seemed to glow slightly, his Caste Mark appearing like a large golden dot on his forehead. "I call upon the taint and decay within this woman. I name you taint, I name you decay. Come forth, and face your reckoning!"

Kale exhaled a breath he didn't know he was holding after a few moments, but relaxed when he saw that nothing happened.

Gordray seemed oblivious, as he called again for her taint to come forth. "I bathe you in the light and love of the Sun. I bless you with peace and rest. Come forth, and be released."

This time, Rosethorne's entire body seemed to tense, her Caste Mark appearing, a bloody black sun surrounded by twelve equal black spokes. Her Mark began to bleed, as her mouth opened. The voice Kale heard was not hers; it sounded like a deep, gravelly male baritone. "I hear you, priest of the sun. Do you dare to call upon me, to name me as taint?"

Gordray stiffened, though his eyes didn't open. "For this woman to be healed, the shadows within her must be purged. If you are what causes her harm, I command you to leave."

Rosethorne spoke again, in the same eerie deep voice. "And what do you know of shadows and harm, overzealous priest? I have seen and experienced both in far greater measure than you could have ever imagined in your entire lifetime."

Morjin began to look concerned and uneasy, looking at Kale. "I've never heard any taint speak back to him before. I hope this is normal for Abyssals."

Kale looked more and more concerned as he watched the three of them, Rosethorne in particular. He watched with concern as a trail of blood began to flow toward her eyes. Morjin was ahead of him though, and gently wiped it away with a clean cloth.

Gordray, with his eyes closed, was oblivious to this. He continued determinedly. "If you are what selfishly and evilly causes her harm and torment, I call upon you to leave, spirit!"

Rosethorne laughed, a deep and eerie noise coming from her. "I gave her the power she has now, priest. Without me, she would be dead." The voice paused, her mouth turning into a frown, before continuing in a softer voice, though just as strange and unsettling. "Perhaps it would have been better if she had died, and I had never given in."

Gordray began to look irritated, despite how his eyes were closed. "I do not ask for riddles, spirit. Leave her in peace!"

Her body sighed heavily, her jaw setting as more blood flowed from her Caste Mark. "I did not ask you for a confession, priest. But...perhaps you are right. She would be better off without me, and all the darkness I contain."

The room darkened swiftly, the gloom nearly impenetrable even for Kale's keen eyes. Gordray's voice sounded shrill in the darkness. "Morjin! Contain the shadows!"

The room began to slowly lighten again, the shadows coalescing into an inky black sphere between Morjin's hands, revealing the veins on his face as he strained to contain it. A strange thing hovered above Rosethorne's body, partially golden, and mostly inky black. More of the black fell away, before it seemed to collapse in on itself, disappearing swiftly.

Rosethorne's body relaxed, her Caste Mark fading away, though the blood and scabs remained on her forehead. She was breathing regularly again, which made Kale feel a little better.

Morjin examined her once more with deep concentration. Suddenly, he stopped, looking at both Kale and Gordray with wide, shocked eyes. "Her Essence is gone! She is an Exalt no longer!"

Dead silence filled the room, soon broken by a moan of pain from Rosethorne. Morjin looked swiftly back at her, seeing the black substance that had previously been contained within her leg and stomach was now spreading outward, bubbling maliciously as it began to devour her. His hands glowed as he pressed down on the two wounds, causing them to close slightly. Perspiration began to appear on his brow, followed swiftly by his Caste Mark appearing and his anima blazing forth with soft blues and gold colors, shimmering slightly in the soft sunlin cabin.

He paused, and looked at the two of them. "The substance is no longer held in check by her healing. It will take all my skill just to contain it." He shook his head, taking a deep breath before looking at Kale and Gordray once more. "However, she'll be in for quite a shock once she awakens." He glared briefly at Gordray, who didn't notice.

Kale, however, wasn't so polite. "Just what the hell is wrong with you?" he yelled at Gordray. Gordray looked up, surprised and shocked. Kale looked at Morjin, continuing with an undercurrent of anger. "Morjin, I don't mind if you stay, since she'll need all your skill to keep her alive, and I'll be grateful to you if you do." He turned again to Gordray, the undercurrent of anger in his voice becoming a rising tide. "Your friend, however, should leave before something really bad happens to him!"

Gordray stammered, shocked. "But...but I helped purge the taint from her!"

"Wrong, fool!" Kale snarled. "You just convinced her Essence to leave, which means without Morjin's help, she's going to die from the wounds and poison in her body. Get the hell out of my house!"

Morjin spoke up quietly. "Please, forgive my friend. He meant no harm."

Kale continued, the helpless rage in his voice softening slightly. "Yeah, well he caused some serious harm anyway. At this point in time, I'm really tempted to return the favor."

Gordray's mouth opened in righteous indignation. "Is this how you treat a preacher of the Unconquered Sun?"

"No," Kale growled. "It's how I treat a fool who could very likely cause a very close friend of mine to die."

Morjin spoke up again, quietly. "If he is unwelcome here, then where shall he stay?" Gordray looked at his companion in shock.

In a softer, but still irritated voice, Kale spoke again. "There's an Inn at Ayodha, a few miles northwest. Go right ahead and preach or purge there all you want."

Gordray walked with head held high toward the door. Before he left, he turned to look back at Kale with a righteous expression. "You should thank me for cleansing an Abyssal of Oblivion's taint."

"You should thank me for not stabbing you in the face!" Kale snarled at him.

Gordray left the cabin, slamming the door behind him. Kale took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself down, but he was just too angry. Morjin's voice caught his attention.

"She will live, if I have anything to say about it. However, I ask that you apologize to my companion once your friend is healed. I know he did something that was foolish in retrospect, but he's exorcised quite a few wraiths from possessing people; he had no way of knowing her Essence would leave."

Kale nodded, his jaw still clenched. "Fine. If she lives, then I'll apologize to the pompous, shortsighted, overzealous, self-righteous fool."

"Kale?" Her voice was unmistakable, even as quiet and shaky as it was.

He was at the bedside in a heartbeat, holding her hand between his. "I'm here."

Morjin stood quietly. "I'll go show my companion to the Inn. I'll return in the evening." He quietly left the cabin. Kale was silently grateful, as Morjin seemed to know that he and Rosethorne needed some time alone to speak.

Kale nodded absently, still looking at her. She spoke again, quietly. "I can't hear or feel my Essence anymore. I feel...I feel so much weaker."

He just squeezed her hand gently between his, not knowing what to say.

Rosethorne's chin quivered briefly before returning to its previous stillness. "Tell me you didn't do this on purpose, and I'll believe you."

Kale pressed her hand to his forehead, a tear threatening to fall from his eye. "I swear to you on everything I hold dear that this didn't happen on purpose. These two men came to my door, Solars both, saying that their services were needed at this time. The stupid one tried to purge you of your spiritual taint. You started talking back to him in a deep, eerie voice...then your Essence said something about you being better off without him, and left. I kicked the stupid one out of here, but the healer I want to stay here to help you."

She smiled slightly. "Indeed, feeling...empty and suddenly alone was what woke me, followed by you yelling at him."

Kale smiled back, squeezing her hand gently again. Her hands felt colder than usual, and slightly clammy. He gently blew on her hand to warm it, followed by rubbing it gently. "I'm not going to let you die, Aya." He noticed a tear fall onto her hand, which he just massaged into her hand, hoping she wouldn't notice.

She gently moved over on the bed, and patted the spot near the edge she was formerly sitting in. "Come on, sit down."

Kale looked at her questioningly at first, but sat down beside her. She gently moved her hands around him, and hugged him close, not saying anything at first. After a short silence, she chuckled softly. "Quit worrying so much, Kale."

He looked at her wonderingly. "Wait, aren't I supposed to be comforting you?"

She gently pressed his head down onto her shoulder, slowly moving her fingers through his hair. "I had a dream, a week before you rescued me from the Malfean Labyrinth. On one side of me, I saw a burning sun, so hot it burned my flesh. On the other side, I saw a lake made of shadows, trying to pull me into its depths. At my feet, I saw a dagger."

She paused for a moment, letting Kale digest this. "It's for the best this way, Kale. My Essence won't Exalt someone as an Abyssal; he's free now. I can't be turned into an Essence, as I don't have anyone to bond with. This way, when I die, I'll be free and safe." She hugged him closer. "It's what you wanted, isn't it?"

Kale shook his head slowly. "No, not like this." He wrapped his arms around her in return, careful of the bandages around her waist. "Just hold on until Morjin says there's no hope, okay?"

She chuckled softly, before wincing in pain. "You and my Essence were a lot alike, you know. Both of you spoke in riddles, both of you kept telling me to wait, to hold on. Don't worry, I won't go before my time. I'm just ready for it to happen."

Kale pressed his forehead to hers, as they used to do when they were children. At the time, it was supposed to help each other think, though this time it was more for comfort and reassurance. "That's all I ask. I'm not going to abandon you, so please don't abandon me before it's time."

Gently pressing a cold hand on the back of his head, Kale saw her smile the first real smile he'd seen from her for over twenty years. She answered in a whisper. "Okay. You have my word."

She was silent for a moment, before smiling again. "Did I hear you tell the priest to go rest at the Inn at Ayodha?"

Kale smirked slightly. "Yeah."

She grinned this time. "Isn't that still controlled and frequented by Immaculate Patrols?"

Kale grinned back. "Yep."

He was relieved to see her chuckle softly again, and falling asleep. He covered her with the blankets to keep her warm, before waiting with his tea in the armchair for Morjin to return.

Weeks passed, though Rosethorne was awake for only parts of them. It became a regular ritual for the healer, Morjin to come and repair the damage done to her by the ichor, and try healing the rest of her as well. From overhearing parts of some conversations between the two, the only thing keeping her alive was his skill as a healer, plus the rotes he knew as a Solar. He couldn't repair her wounds, only prevent them from getting worse. The ichor was actively working against her body healing.

She was gratified, however. Morjin's method of healing was soft, gentle, and non-invasive. He didn't use any surgical instruments in the least, which was a change from the chiurgeons she was used to. He also seemed to dull the constant pain she felt, which let her sleep restfully. She was grateful for it. However, she was secretly more grateful for the way Kale attended to her selflessly. He gently fed her soup and tea, bathed her, and tucked her into bed before she slept again. She was beginning to learn that all the times he had helped her, saved her, and taken care of her, he had never expected or wanted anything in return. All he wanted, she slowly realized, was to know she was alive and well.

Though she knew it was only delaying the inevitable, she was thankful for it. At least between Kale and the healer, they were making her dying very peaceful and comfortable. Though she missed the singing power through her body from being Exalted, she was secretly glad things had happened the way they did. She would no longer be controlled or subjugated by her former Deathlord or his Malfean patron, and neither would her former essence. They were free now, and losing her Exaltation, and soon, her life was a small price to pay for being truly free of their influence.

She put on a brave face for Kale, since he seemed to be affected by her dying more than she was. He seemed to cling stubbornly to the hope that she would eventually be okay, and wouldn't listen to her when she gently tried to tell him otherwise.

If none of her past had happened, if her parents were still alive and well, if she had returned from that fateful trip instead of being taken into the Underworld, she could picture being very happy with him. She and he could have lived a simple but satisfying life, such as what his parents seemed to prefer. She sighed. Perhaps next lifetime. She would make it a point to try to find him, just to see if they could have another chance.

An odd thing she began to notice was that her senses of hearing and smell were sharpening to compensate for her lack of sight. The healer, Morjin, smelled of herbs, grasses, and the evening sun. Kale, on the other hand, smelled of pine trees, soft breezes through the night-time, with a subtle hint of the tea he drank. She began to hear his stealthy footsteps, barely a whisper on the wooden floor. This amused her, since the hardwood floor had always creaked when she had walked across it in the past.

Though she couldn't move around much, she didn't mind. The bed was very comfortable, far more comfortable than any she was used to sleeping on. For as long as she remembered, she had slept on the packed earth, or on the grass, or on an unforgiving stone table. The bed contoured itself gently to her form, making her feel as if it were embracing her softly. She gave a soft, happy sigh. Oh yes, things could be much worse, as she briefly thought back to her recent stay in the Underworld.

Kale had left on one of his short trips, ones that took him out of the cabin for barely half an hour at a time. He was gathering more herbs and roots for the teas and medicines. With how quickly and efficiently he did so, it never took him very long to return with a sackful of them.

She decided to fall into dreams once again, comforted by the soft bed beneath her. She snuggled down into the pillows, pulling the blanket slowly over her. She felt so weak now, so slow. It was difficult for her to come to terms with, but she knew it was a small price to pay for knowing both she and her former Essence were free.

This dream was familiar; it was the one she used to have every once in a while as a little girl. She smiled in her sleep as she remembered. She was racing from her parent's wagon, over hills, past trees, in the time of day before the sun rose. It was always a challenge for her to see how far she could run before the sun rose, and she was running top speed now. Nothing seemed to slow her down as she ran. She crested a tall hill, her lithe legs pumping furiously as she ran. Just as she gained the top of the hill, the sun rose, beginning to bathe the world in its strong light. She smiled in satisfaction as she stood on the hilltop, watching it peeping over the horizon, and slowly rise.

Something was strange this time, though. The sun grew brighter, and brighter still, though she could still see. The morning world around her began glowing with the same soft brightness. She stared in wonder at the world around her, as she didn't remember this happening in this dream before. The world grew quietly brighter, and brighter still, until all she could see was the golden-tinged white light. Was she dying, at long last?

"No, not yet."

That voice sounded so familiar, but yet different. She listened closer, even though the voice had come from all around her at once, a rich male baritone.

The voice chuckled; a rich, warm sound. "Only a few weeks have passed, and you've forgotten me already?"

Her eyes widened in the dream. "I thought you'd left for your final rest!"

The voice laughed this time. It wasn't a mean laughter, it was a rich sound, full of good humor. "No, I had unfinished business, you see. As you can probably tell, I'm a bit different now."

Her eyes narrowed slightly, her form shifting into what she looked like now, as an adult, though still wearing the same dress. "What happened to you?"

She could tell he was smiling, even though she couldn't see any figure of him anywhere. "After I left you, I found that I couldn't hear the accursed Malfean's whispers any longer. Somehow, me leaving before it was time broke the connection."

He continued, after chuckling to himself. "Of course, the best part is that the Malfean thinks you're dead now, though its angry that it couldn't trap you as an Essence before you did."

She decided to take off her shoes, and walk barefoot in the grass. If this was a dream, then she would be allowed to do anything she liked anyway. The feel of the cool, dew-covered grass under her bare feet was something she'd missed, she discovered. She returned her attention to the voice once more. "Then why have you returned?"

His answer was prompt. She wasn't used to him being so forthright. "I came back to offer you a choice, which was the same choice I found that I had."

She narrowed her eyes. "And what would this choice be?"

He was smiling again. Somehow, she knew. "The choice you need to make soon is whether you want to embrace life, or die, as you were hoping to do. Just two simple choices, though both have repercussions."

One of her eyebrows raised in question. "Repercussions, hm?"

"Wanting to die is rather selfish, you know. Kale cares for you deeply, and he's proven it without words many times in recent memory. You're the last living person he's cared about, so he's not going to let you go without a fight."

Her eyes narrowed once again. "Speaking of selfishness, I seem to recall you leaving me alone with the infections and wounds I had."

His voice was softer, more apologetic now. "At the time, I was convinced that you really would be better off without me, and all the darkness I carried with me that was extended onto you. You deserved better than that. However, my wife set me straight."

Her eyes widened slightly. "Your wife? Was she this "one" you kept carrying on at great length about, the one you kept lamenting about abandoning?"

"Yes, the same one. After I'd left you, I found that she was very close by. In fact, she had Exalted someone you know rather well, and was the reason he rescued you the first time."

Her eyes widened far larger. "You mean..."

He finished her sentence. "Yes, she knew the entire time that I was your Essence, though I was blinded and deafened by the shadows. I couldn't see or hear her at all, though a part of me could feel that she was out there, somewhere."

Walking in the dew-covered grass helped her collect her thoughts, now awhirl with explanations. "So, what happened to you?"

The way he answered told her that he had been waiting for her to ask. "After I left, since the Malfean didn't have a hold over me any longer, I was able to start shedding the energy from the Abyss that had pervaded my entire being. For two centuries now, I had grown used to that energy as part of myself, letting the rest of me atrophy, which is precisely what the Mafean wished. Now, however, all of my taint is gone."

Eyebrows knitting in confusion, she couldn't help but ask. "So, what are you now?"

She felt his smile once more. "I am what I was before I fell."

Losing his taint hadn't made him any less cryptic, it seemed, but she was able to understand what he meant, and the implications of it. "Alright, so you're visiting me in my dreams. Explain this choice you offer, please."

"The easy choice is to wither away and die, as you're doing now. The harder choice is to face your past, to face and accept as part of you every wrong you've done, every terrible thing that's happened to you. Once you're no longer hiding from your own past and doing your best to bury the memories you'd rather not face, I'll give you the second choice."

Her eyebrows narrowed at him, even though she couldn't see him. "Second choice?"

"Hope. And life."

She walked a bit more in the grass as she thought. His voice was silent, giving her time to think this through. The best thing to do would be to move past this whole mess and die, so that her Essence could Exalt someone more worthy than she of his gift.

She paused in her line of thought as she heart a stifled snort from him. "What?"

"You're being negative toward yourself, and silly. Even though I was forced to give you the Exaltation the first time, I would have chosen you anyway if I hadn't been made Abyssal."

That made her blink.

"That's right. Now is not the time for illusions. Don't delude yourself into making the wrong choice. Let your heart decide."

She walked further. Was it selfishness that made her want to say yes? Was it only the silly desire for self-preservation that made her want to live?

Stopping in her tracks, she remembered that dream once more. The pieces seemed so clear now. Her eyes widened as she realized the implications of each choice; of sun, of dagger, of shadow. The shadow was no longer an option, as she had subconsciously counted it out by being willing to wait for Kale to save her. Now, the choice was between dagger, and sun. She took a deep breath.

"Alright, I've made my decision."

She could feel his smile. "Excellent, I was hoping you'd see. Are you ready to face your past?"

She took another deep breath, and stood straighter. "Yes."

* * *

Her surroundings abruptly changed, shimmering, as they reformed into that fateful day she and her family left on their ill-fated trip. She saw herself as a little girl sitting on the back of the wagon, a few tears falling down her face as she furiously waved goodbye to Kale. She watched Kale fall onto his knees, his voice shaking as he cried "Aya, no, don't go..."

Her mother hugged her close, kissing her on the forehead gently. "We'll come back, don't worry."

She nodded, and sniffled as she snuggled closer into her mother's embrace. "Promise?"

Her mother kissed her on the forehead again, and gave her a gentle smile. "Of course, Aya."

* * *

The scene paused in it's tracks as Rosethorne shook her head, closing her eyes. "I tried to bury this memory as much as possible, you know."

The voice answered back. "You have to face all of your past if you want to continue unhindered into the present."

She nodded. "Alright. Continue, then."

* * *

The wagon ride was long, and uneventful. To save time, her father decided to take the Shadowlands path, near Sijan to shave a week off their trip time. Her mother was anxious about her father's choice of paths, but he reassured them both that as long as they stayed on the path, they'd be fine. He warned them strongly about going off the path, however.

Aya nodded absentmindedly, playing with one of her dolls, as she lost herself in her games of make-believe. It seemed no time had passed at all before the surroundings weren't sunny and bright any longer, but grey, dismal, and forbidding.

The wagon hit a bump, causing her doll to bounce out of her hands, off the back of the wagon, and off the narrow path. She jumped out of the wagon, running after it. Her mother noticed her absence first, and screamed "Stop the wagon, Jaras! Stop the wagon!" as she jumped out, intent on grabbing her daughter.

Aya saw her doll, a couple yards off the path, and into the hazy greyness beyond. She stepped off the path carefully, walking intently toward her doll. She knelt down to grab it, and dusted it off lovingly. Her head jerked up in question as she heard her parents calling her name. "I'm right here!" she called back. She was only a few feet off the path, why couldn't they see her?

Her mother materialized out of the gloom, her eyes wide with fear. "Aya!"

Aya stood up, looking questioningly at her as she began walking back toward the wagon. She was about to ask what had scared her mother so badly, when she noticed that her mother was standing stock-still, staring wide-eyed with fear at something behind her. She turned to look, and beheld the huge, ghostly, frightening figures behind her. They seemed to be smiling, though she somehow knew that there was no friendliness behind their smiles.

Her father ran up into of the gloom, looking wildly around for them, and calling for both of them. "AYA! SHARA!"

The ghostly figures smiled more widely, one of them having long hooks where teeth should be. The one with the hooks for teeth floated silently over to her father, and did...something to him. Her father made a frantic choking noise, and fell to the ground.

Her mother screamed in a way she'd never heard anyone scream before, and never would again. They were swiftly surrounded by the ghostly figures again. One of them spoke, in a terrifying voice laden with pure malice. "There is a penalty for trespassing, you know. So, little girl, which one of you should we take as payment for your crime?"

Her mother cried out. "No, leave us both alone, you've already taken my husband! Please, have mercy!"

The ghostly figure that had spoken before broke the silence once more. "Take both of you, hmm? Yes, that can be arranged."

The world went black as one of them rushed at her with inhuman speed, its huge jaws opening wide.

* * *

Rosethorne shuddered. "I tried my best to forget that."

"You can't forget any longer. This happened to you; it's in your past, and made you who you are now."

She nodded, and the scene unfroze around them.

* * *

Aya and her mother were led forcefully to a dark, dismal place, with nothing but ash and dust where trees and soft earth should be. They were thrown into a large, run-down building, with other frightened people inside as well.

One of the wraiths spoke once more. "You will be kept here until you are ready for your fate. Rest well, and be sure not to allow your blood to spoil!"

The door slammed shut, all of them hearing something heavy being moved in front of the door.

Years passed as they lived in that little shack, eating when food was brought to them. Aya and her mother had been left alone for some reason, though they saw wraiths regularly come into the shack to take some of the people away, screaming. Sometimes, there were new faces brought in, looking as terrified as Aya and her mother had been the day they arrived. Sometimes, there were children close to Aya's age, but before she could strike up a friendship with them, they had been taken into the night, screaming and crying for their parents.

Aya's eighteenth birthday arrived and went, scarcely noticed by she or her mother. Her mother had seemed to retreat within herself in the last few years, moving only to relieve herself or eat. She didn't speak much anymore, just staring at the walls, as if silently hoping one of them would fall over, allowing her to leave. That small spark of hope in her eyes as she stared at the walls slowly died out over the years.

Aya didn't know what fate had in store for them, as it had been thirteen years almost to the day since she and her mother had been taken that fateful day.

The next day, they found out. The wraiths came in again, smiling mirthlessly as they usually did. They swiftly surrounded both she and her mother, cutting off all routes of escape. "Your fates have been decided. We do hope you've been comfortable and cozy while you waited."

They all laughed; a low, mirthless, dirge-like sound. As one, they all looked at her mother. "So, Shara, we leave the decision to you. Which one of you should we take to meet your fate?"

Her voice was listless. She had barely moved from her familiar position of leaning against the wall as the wraiths entered. "Take her, and leave me be."

Aya's eyes widened in fear. "Mother, what are you saying?"

She didn't answer, which brought fresh laughter to the wraiths. One of them spoke again. "Ah, so you would abandon your child to save yourself? How delicious!"

They kept laughing, a bone-chilling noise. Suddenly, they grabbed her mother, and dragged her out the door, slamming it behind them.

Aya sat down and hugged her knees, trembling. Barely fifteen minutes had passed when the wraiths came back. "Your mother wished us to take you instead of her. So, we'll take you and her!"

Icy, life-stealing hands grabbed her, and carried her out the door. Aya didn't scream, though a few tears streamed down her face. She knew she was going to die, as she had heard frightened, wary whispers from the others in the cabin about what happened to those who were taken. First, you were beaten and maimed, then you were brought to the castle to be drained of your blood and soul for the ghosts to eat. "We are nothing more than cattle to the dead things here," the man had said, five minutes before the wraiths came for him.

She was dropped unceremoniously on the ground, the wraiths backing away from her, though still surrounding her from fifteen feet away. "We encourage you to run all you like. Running makes the game more interesting!"

Aya turned to face the wraith that had spoken, looking at the inky blackness where the upper half of his head should have been. She stood stock-still, unmoving. Fresh laughter seemed to scorch her ears, right before they closed in on her. She felt herself being beaten with heavy blunt objects, cut with dull, rusty knives, and clawed with their cold talons. It seemed to go on forever. Just as she was about to lose consciousness, she would be struck in a spot and in such a way as to wake her up once again.

After what seemed like an eternity, they dragged her, the ashen earth seeming to claw viciously at her feet as she was dragged over the rough ground. She closed her eyes as she was being dragged, just wishing for it to be over with. She opened her eyes as they stopped, seeing a large, stone table with a bloody bowl beneath it. She knew immediately what this was for. But, they would never make her cower. She forced herself to walk over to the table, and lay down. The figure by the table made a rasping noise that might have been considered laughter, as her limbs were tied down roughly, her ankles and wrists slit. The noise of her blood dripping into the bowl reminded her of a waterfall, and seemed almost peaceful. The laughter, and talking of the wraiths began to grow softer, and more distant.

She felt something...dark, shadowy, muddy, and cold seep through her skin, and seem to hold itself within her chest. The masked figure spoke to her. "I offer you not death this night, but instead a chance to be trapped between the world of the living and the dead, gaining great power at my discretion, and spreading death to the living at my wishes. Do you accept such a gift?"

Feeling like she was in a dream, she spoke. "I accept."

* * *

"You found out your mother had been given the Black Exaltation right before you did some time later, did you not?"

Rosethorne nodded grimly. "I don't hate her anymore, even though she gave into despair. However, she stopped being my mother the instant she became an Abyssal."

There was a silence for a time, as Rosethorne just enjoyed the feeling of the sun on her face and skin, despite this being a dream. She knew that when she awoke, she wouldn't be able to see. She treasured the feelings while she could.

"Before I finish this, you need to see something. You need to see how Kale cares for you."

She nodded, as her vision shifted once again. She was looking through his eyes, she realized, as she looked down at her cold, still form on the bed, with Kale holding her hands. The healer, Morjin was shaking his head. "I don't know, Kale. She's been asleep for the past twelve hours. Her heartbeat is regular, though faint."

Kale squeezed her hand tighter. She could see a tear falling down his cheek as he pressed her hand to his forehead, and spoke to her in a whisper. "Please, Aya, don't go. Not yet. Remember, you promised!"

Morjin gently placed a hand on Kale's shoulder. "Do you love her?"

Kale nodded after a few moments. "She's all I have left."

The scene faded back to her dream, of her on the grassy hilltop underneath the sunshine.

His voice broke the silence. "So, have you made your choice?"

She shook herself out of her reverie. "Which choice?"

"You chose death before. Now, you have the same choice again. Which do you choose, life, or death?"

Her eyes closed as she took a deep breath. "I choose life."

Her skin felt warmer, more comforted. His voice was echoing slightly now, which seemed strange. "Then I formally offer my gift to you. Do you accept, choosing of your own free will to be a Child of the Sun?"

Her eyes grew wide; at first, she thought she misheard him. He was silent, allowing her to make her choice. Finally, she nodded. "I gratefully accept, with my thanks."

The world swiftly grew a golden white color around her, the grassy hilltop disappearing rapidly. Her skin began feeling warmer, and warmer still. She felt like she should be on fire with how hot she felt, but she didn't feel burnt.

"Before I finish this, you should know - the Malfean took your name because you allowed it to. It doesn't imprison your name at all. Take back your name, and accept your past."

She took a deep breath, and nodded once more. "I now leave the name Rosethorne, Huntress Clad in the Raiments of Shadow back to the Malfean from whence it came. I reclaim my name of Aya as my own, for all time!"

She felt her skin nearly burning from within, and without. Her mouth opened with a silent gasp, as she kept expecting the great heat to consume her, to burn her to cinders.

"For too long, you have embraced and followed death."

She began hearing a low roaring noise that slowly grew louder from within herself, as a feeling of surging energy spread rapidly throughout her body, filling her with its glorious light.

"Now Aya, embrace life once more."

The energy surging through her felt nothing like what it had felt like before. Previously, it felt cold, like it was stealing the warmth from her body as it surged freezingly through her. Now, it burned and flowed through her with a feeling of savage joy, making her want to yell and scream her own feelings of joy to the entire world.

"Arise, Aya of the Dawn!"

Rosethorne had been asleep ever since he got back, which worried Kale to no end. She just lay there, deathly still. He tried talking to her while she slept, hoping she'd wake sometime soon. As the hours passed, he grew more and more worried as she didn't even move in her sleep.

Morjin had come by toward the evening. He immediately saw Kale's worry, and examined Rosethorne thoroughly. "She's dreaming...and yet, she isn't. It's as if she's out of her body, communicating with something."

Kale stiffened, and took a deep, shuddering breath. When he spoke, his voice trembled slightly. "Will she wake up again?"

The healer, Morjin was shaking his head. "I don't know, Kale. She's been asleep for the past twelve hours. Her heartbeat is regular, though faint."

Kale squeezed her hand tighter. A tear fell down his cheek as he pressed her hand to his forehead, and spoke to her in a whisper. "Please, Aya, don't go. Not yet. Remember, you promised!"

Morjin gently placed a hand on Kale's shoulder. "Do you love her?"

Kale nodded after a few moments. "She's all I have left."

Morjin nodded back, looking thoughtful. "I think she's staying because of you."

Both men jumped when the room began growing brighter, and brighter still, with no visible light source. Morjin immediately closed his eyes, murmuring to himself. His eyes snapped open in shock, his surprised gaze meeting Kale's worried one. "She's talking with a spirit, though what kind, I cannot tell. The spirit is inside of her now, and that spirit is shedding this light."

They looked at Rosethorne again. Her lips were moving slightly, as if speaking to someone. Kale looked quickly at Morjin, the worry plain in his eyes. "Is the spirit possessing her?"

Morjin shook his head slowly, as he stared at Rosethorne. "I do not believe so. They are communicating, but not fighting. I feel strong turmoil from her, however."

Kale clasped Rosethorne's hand more tightly as he pressed her hand to his forehead again. "Oh Aya, please be alright."

As if in answer, she began to glow in tones of red, gold, and white. She opened her mouth wide, and screamed continuously, the sound filling the cabin. She kept screaming, not even pausing for breath. Both men looked surprised and shocked at her, as she began glowing more brightly, while a low roar began, as if in counterpoint to her constant scream. Rosethorne's hand no longer felt cold and clammy in Kale's hands. Rather, her hand grew warm, and then hot to the touch.

Even as her scream made it difficult for Kale to think, he couldn't help but believe that it wasn't a scream of pain, of loss, or fear. She glowed more brightly, a golden disc with twelve evenly-distributed spokes appearing, and shining brightly on her forehead. The low roar grew louder, and louder still, nearly drowning out her scream.

Just as suddenly as it has started, she stopped screaming, the roar died away, and the glow faded. She took a deep breath, and sat upright suddenly, panting for breath. She squeezed Kale's hand as she panted for breath, her head turning toward him.

Kale was stunned. He was struck speechless as he looked at her, his mouth hanging open in shock.

With her other hand, she reached up to the bandage around her eyes, and gingerly pulled it off. To both Kale and Morjin's surprise, the swelling was gone, the puncture marks in her eyelids gone as well. She opened her eyes, and blinked rapidly.

She continued looking at Kale, and began to smile at him. She squeezed his hand once more, strongly, and let go. She wordlessly unwound the bandage around her stomach, the delight on her face evident as there was no hole, no scarring, and most importantly, no black ooze from her stomach. Her eyes open brightly with fascination, she unwound the other bandages, seeing that the same healing had taken place, even on her right thighbone.

She flexed it experimentally, while both men watched her in silence. She turned her attention back to Kale, looking at him with a look he'd never seen before from her. Her eyes held his quietly, as she moved her legs experimentally over the side of the bed, and with legs shaking slightly, began to stand.

Kale was at her side in a heartbeat, putting an arm around her waist to help support her as she stood. She didn't tense or shy away at the contact, but rather leaned on him slightly as she took her feet. He was surprised as she took his other hand in hers. Her grip wasn't cold, or even clammy any longer. Her hand was very warm to the touch, her grip's strength surprising him with its intensity.

She turned to face him while lifting her head to look into his eyes with a slight smile, her blue eyes seeming to sparkle. "I have good news, and I have bad news, Kale. Which would you like to hear first?"

Kale raised an eyebrow in question, but answered quickly. "Call me a pessimist. What's the bad news?"

She smiled a bit more widely at him. She didn't look feral, or even slightly predatory with the smile. Indeed, her face seemed to light up. "The bad news is that Rosethorne is now dead. I buried her myself."

He raised both eyebrows in surprise at her jocularity, but couldn't help but ask. "Okay, and the good news?"

She smiled softly at him, holding his gaze with a look he hadn't seen from her before. "The good news is that Aya isn't."

Kale couldn't help but feel a little trepidation. "And where is Aya now?"

She grinned at him, shaking her head slightly. "You mean, aside from looking up at you, smiling?"

Kale smiled slowly as he looked slightly down at her. "You mean..."

She interrupted him, smiling. "That's right. My Essence came back and made me an Exalt again, though not as an Abyssal this time."

Kale laughed as he shook his head, looking at her. "You mean..."

She interrupted him again with a grin. "Yes, I'm a Solar. You're starting to sound repetitive, Kale."

Kale wrapped his arms around her, laughing with relief. He stopped, realizing that he had probably invaded her personal space. To his surprise, she had wrapped her arms around his chest after a few seconds, and hugged him just as tightly. After a few more moments, she seemed to relax even more, leaning against him, her head on his shoulder. Her voice was very quiet, though her warm breath against his face surprised him again. "I have you to thank for it, you know."

The moment was broken by a quiet cough from off to the side. Both turned to look at Morjin, who was smiling himself. "Sorry to interrupt the happy moment, er...Aya, but I should examine you to make sure all your wounds have healed."

Aya nodded, smiling softly back at Kale once more before laying back down on the bed. She looked at Morjin impassively before speaking. "Alright. I'd like to know that I'm as healthy as I feel in any case."

Morjin's eyebrows widened in surprise a few times before knitting in concentration again as he examined her. Finally, he finished, and he looked at her, shaking his head with a small smile. "Well, I can confirm it. All your wounds are healed completely, with no scarring or trace. The black oozing substance is completely gone; I'm assuming your body devoured it to fuel your Exaltation. I can also say with certainty that not only are you an Exalt once more, you're a Solar now. Unless I'm missing my guess by your Caste Mark, you're the direct opposite of what you once were. From the Abyssal warrior caste of Dusk, to the Solar warrior caste of Dawn."

Aya smiled at him. "Thank you for the confirmation, Morjin." Aya stood once more, a look of glee briefly evident on her face briefly before turning to look at Morjin once again. "Morjin? Would you mind going to Ayodha and bringing your companion back here? I wish to thank him for what he did."

Kale's eyebrows almost climbed into his hairline. "What the hell? But he was the one who was responsible for you nearly dying! If you hadn't been Exalted again, he definately would have been responsible for it!"

Aya turned to look at him as he spoke, and got off the bed to look at him in the eyes from a few inches away. Contrary to what he expected, she didn't look angry, or even cold. Instead, she had a small, soft smile on her face. "Despite his midguided intentions, he was responsible for helping to set in motion what happened today. If it weren't for him, my Essence wouldn't have shed the Oblivion that tainted his soul."

Morjin smirked. "It is good to know that my intuition was correct after all, though it did give me quite a start at first. Very well, I'll return in a few hours." He smiled at both of them, and walked toward the cabin door, before stopping and turning around once more. "I must say, I've never seen anyone Exalt before, other than my own experience. I feel honored that I could see it happen." He smiled once more at the two of them, before leaving quietly.

Kale shook his head wonderingly as Aya walked to the clothing drawer, pulling out a shirt and breeches that would fit her. She turned to look at Kale after she had found them. "Kale, I want to apologize to you."

Aya nonchalantly took off her nightshirt, causing Kale to hastily look in a different direction. "Apologize for what?" He hoped his voice was as offhand as her removing her nightshirt was.

He heard her chuckling quietly. "You've already seen me naked a couple times. Why so shy now?"

Kale scratched the back of his head, feeling a little silly. "Well, that was when I was taking care of your wounds and such. It was different then."

He heard her soft, light footsteps whisper against the hardwood floor. Suddenly, she was in front of him, with her surprisingly warm hands cupping his face, and forcing him to look at her. His eyes widened as she did so, causing her to smile in satisfaction. "There, now that I've proven my point and have your undivided attention..."

Kale couldn't do much else, other than nod dumbly. Wow, had she changed. She was...he barely dared even think it. Was this what she would have been like if she had never become an Abyssal? Her actions now certainly reminded him of the way an adult version of the little girl he remembered.

She began dressing in front of him, talking to him as she did so. "...I'm sorry for being so mean to you, Kale. I was un-necessarily vicious to you because a part of me remembered you, which frightened me at the time. There are many things I'm sorry for, but I don't regret them any longer, for they've made me who I am now. However, I still need to atone for certain things I've done."

She looked downcast and serious, the look on her face reminding him of the stony look she wore when he met her for the second time. She tiled her head upright, chin held high to look him in the eyes once more, a smile hovering over her lips. "However, those can wait for now. There are more pressing matters that need attending."

Aya walked closer to him, wrapping her arms gently around him. Kale wrapped his arms around her as well, feeling like he was dreaming. He could have sworn he was dreaming as she kissed him softly on the cheek. He thought inanely that her lips were much warmer than they'd been previously. She pulled away after only a few seconds, smiling softly at him. "Thank you, Kale. Thank you for saving my life for what is now the fifth time. I still intend on making it up to you, but not in quite the same way I had in the past."

That snapped Kale out of his reverie. "Like how?"

She smiled a little wider at him, gently stroking his face with one of her hands. "Well, for one thing, I plan on staying at your side both before and after I pay you back in various ways."

Kale's eyebrow quirked upward again. He really wasn't used to her being so...alive. He smirked at the thought. "'Various ways,' huh? Like how?"

Aya grinned mischievously at him, her blue eyes sparkling with mirth. "That I'll leave open to negotiation." She stood up on the tips of her toes briefly to gently kiss him on his other cheek before pulling back with a smile. "In the meantime, however, I freely invite you to ask the questions I know are sitting on your mind."

Kale smiled back at her. If this was indeed a dream, he hoped to continue this dream for a very, very long time. "Okay, first off - you don't need blood anymore, do you?"

Aya shook her head, smiling. "Not in the least. What's more, I can eat normal food now."

Kale grinned at her. "Good, does that mean you don't have to worry about that resonance thing anymore?"

Aya shook her head again, smiling a bit more widely. "Exactly. I can sleep in the same place as the living, now." Her smile grew just a little more.

Kale chuckled. "What about that...that shadow thing you did before, when you got mad?"

Aya shook her head a little sadly, though she still had a smile on her face. "I admit I'll miss that, but it's a small price to pay."

Kale felt like he was dreaming. To see her now was very strange. She still had many of the mannerisms he had become used to over the past few weeks, but it seemed as if...as if the person he remembered her to be was beginning to shine through now, making her less reserved, and more open about how she felt. This made him feel quite a bit better, because telling how she was feeling in the recent past was a challenge, to put it lightly. However, he had to ask, considering the recent screaming match she'd had with herself before she woke up. "Are you...as strong as you were before?"

She gave another small sigh, and lifted her head to look him in the eyes once more, looking determined, though a little sad. "No. In the past, I grew used to manipulating and channeling the essence of Oblivion, which flows very differently than Solar essence. It's going to take me some time to learn how to use it properly." Her somewhat somber face broke into a grin. "I do hope you're up for sparring more. I promise not to lick the blade this time."

Kale chuckled, grinning at her. "Alright. I'll go easy on you, then."

She laughed loudly and shoved him backwards, causing him to flop heavily onto the bed. Well, it appeared that she was just as strong as she was before. She finished laughing long enough to speak, taking a bow as she did so. "Oh, kind sir! I am indebted to you for your kindness in being willing to take in and train a meek, quiet woman such as myself in the way of the blade!"

Laughing himself now, Kale bounced himself off the bed, and back onto his feet, in front of her. He shook his head as he smiled at her. "It really is a wonderful thing to hear you laughing again." He grinned at her. "Even though quiet and meek you aren't."

She chuckled as she looked at him, one hand on her hip, grinning at him. "That was one of the reasons I said yes to being Exalted again, you know. Someone needs to keep you in line."

Kale rolled his eyes. "Psh. I was doing just fine. I was just waiting for you to get better so I could get you into bed."

Her grin grew wider. "Oh, but Kale - I was already in your bed."

Kale smirked back at her. "Good point."

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Aya looked at him, smiling before he walked to open the door. "I seem to remember you promising to apologize to that priest if I got better."

Kale rolled his eyes and sighed. "Perhaps I should apologize to him about wanting to stab him in the face, too."

He heard Aya laughing quietly as he neared the door. "Yes, perhaps that might be a nice start."

Aya watched with barely-hidden amusement as Kale opened the door, and ushered the two gentlemen in. She could intellectually understand Kale's irritation at Gordray, but she hoped he would also see that what Gordray had done was necessary, in retrospect.

She quirked one of her eyebrows slightly as he behaved like a true gentleman, showing them two comfortable chairs. He got two smaller stools for himself, and looked expectantly at her with a smile as he set the other one next to him.

Aya walked calmly over to him, and sat down gracefully, earning a surprised look from Gordray, who hadn't seen her before she sat down. She smiled warmly at him. He was...a bit hasty in his judgements, yes, but she could tell that he wasn't an especially bad person. Kale might disagree, but he was welcome to.

Kale served all of them tea, and began speaking as he seated himself. His face was serious, and thoughtful. "Gordray, I want to apologize to you. What you did was necessary for Aya to become as she is now, though I didn't see it at the time. I also wanted to apologize for threatening you like I did."

Gordray looked at both Kale, and her back and forth, still somewhat surprised. After a few moments, he inclined his head with a very self-assured air, and answered. "You are forgiven, Kale. However, I'd like to suggest you keep a better reign on your temper after this."

Kale smirked, but said nothing. Gordray turned to look at her, and asked the question she could tell had been eating away at him. "Forgive me for asking...er, Aya, but how do we know you won't be seduced again by the darkness and become an Abyssal again? Such darkness is difficult to let go of." He took a sip of his tea, and nodded approvingly.

Aya couldn't help but smile. "No, I've had quite enough of that. I came to know all of what being an Abyssal entailed, and had even grown used to it. However, the ways and views of those in the Underworld are inherently flawed. The dead don't seem to understand that without the thoughts and ceremonies of the living, they would quickly fade away altogether. Life is much more precious." As she said the last, she turned to look at Kale briefly with a soft, warm smile. Would he ever know just how much he had helped?

She turned to look at Gordray again, looking determinedly into his eyes. "I've made my choice, and I will stay with it for as long as I live, and after."

Kale flashed her a grin before turning back to the two men. "Morjin, I wanted to thank you as well. You worked selflessly and tirelessly to keep Aya alive. For that, I am indebted to you."

Morjin smiled slightly as he sipped his tea. "You owe me nothing, Kale. My calling now appears to be a healer, of people, and sometimes implements of war. I do what I do for the experience of doing so, of meeting new people and places, and helping to heal what others seem so intent on destroying. I was a humble metalsmith before the Sun Exalted me, now I seek to repair and heal the world itself. Doing so is it's own reward, for me."

Kale nodded, though he was smiling slightly. "Even so, if you happen to need help with anything, don't be afraid to ask."

Morjin nodded in return as he sipped his tea. Aya got the feeling that being thanked embarassed him slightly.

Gordray, on the other hand, was studying Aya. "Since you were an Abyssal, do you know what happened to the Shadow General that nearly took Thorns single-handedly?"

Kale bit his lip to keep from laughing, and mostly succeeded. Aya laughed quietly, shaking her head and looking at the floor before meeting Gordray's gaze once more. "Actually, I do know."

She got up, and walked to the smallish closet in the back of the cabin, looking slightly sadly at her old armor, dented helmet, and her weapons. She decided to bring only the helmet back to the circle, seating herself daintily. "Does this look familiar?"

Both men studied the helmet intently. Morjin's eyebrows swiftly rose, but he said nothing. Gordray took a few more moments of careful study. "This was your old helmet you wore as an Abyssal, yes?"

Aya nodded with a rueful smile, not trusting herself to say anything. She examined it herself now. How quickly life could change in such a short time, she thought.

Gordray looked into Aya's eyes once more, looking slightly suspicious. "The horns on the helmet...I heard stories about how the Shadow General had the same type. Did you serve your Deathlord with him?"

Kale stifled his laughter with difficulty. Morjin was shaking his head slightly. Aya looked at Gordray with a small smile. "The Shadow General wasn't a man."

Gordray raised his bushy eyebrows. "You mean to tell me that the Shadow General was a...a...zombie, of some kind? I've heard stories of zombies turned into Abyssals." He looked at Morjin to find some acknowledgement or agreement, but Morjin just stared resolutely at the helmet, and back at Aya, with a smirk on his face.

Aya chuckled. "No, the Shadow General wasn't a zombie, either. In fact, she was an ordinary human before she became an Abyssal."

Gordray nodded, his eyebrows knitted in confusion. Kale finally sighed with impatience. "No offence intended Gordray, but she'd given you all the clues you need. Come on man, make the connection!"

Gordray looked haughtily at Kale. "You think you know the identity of the Shadow General when the entire Immaculate Guard sent to Thorns was never able to determine the Shadow General's identity? Unlikely."

Kale laughed, while shaking his head. "...Right." He got up to make more tea, still chuckling.

Morjin gazed at Aya thoughtfully. "Perhaps it would help if you put on your old implements of war, Aya."

Aya raised an eyebrow at him curiously. "Can a Solar attune soulsteel?"

Morjin nodded. "You won't get to use it's special property of stealing essence from those blooded by your weapons, or be quite as light as it was when you wore the armor, but you can still attune it, yes."

Aya nodded thoughtfully. "Very well." She got up again, and walked into the closet in the back of the cabin.

She carefully laid out all the parts of her armor, looking at them somewhat sadly. It was as if she was looking at a black hole in her heart, gazing at her old gear. It seemed to represent a time when she was least herself. She sighed, and stood a little straighter. However, in the time she wore that armor, she had learned exactly how dark and cold she could become. It was a good basis for comparison for her, now that she had taken her name and soul back.

Aya looked next at her scimitar, and her tiger-claw khatar. Weapons designed only to slay and take lives, with little honor attached to them. She had merely been a retainer for the Mask of Winters, his living weapon that he pointed at things he thought deserved to die. Being his weapon, she felt no remorse for anything she did, as she was merely her Lord's tool; his half-living weapon.

She shook her head, somewhat sadly. Wearing the armor and weapons now as a demonstration was alright, but she couldn't use them again. They made her feel uncomfortable, reminding her of a time when she was least human, most convinced that the dead were superior to the living.

However, she had lost none of her old skill in donning her armor and weapons swiftly. The helmet was a bit harder to put on, due to the dent in the back, but she managed. She wouldn't be wearing the helmet long anyway.

Aya finished putting on the shinplates and her footguards, and walked swiftly, with long strides back into the living room of the cabin. Once she saw that she had Gordray's rather surprised attention, she swiftly drew her scimitar and claw, and dropped into her old battle stance; both knees bent, looking sideways at him. The scimitar in her right hand was held with the flat of the blade point-out against her left shoulder, the claw on her left arm extended past her right elbow.

Gordray's gasp was audible, as his eyes grew wide. He made a few strangled noises, and looked as if he was about to bolt for the door. Aya smirked behind her helmet before she spoke, the helmet making her voice echo in reverse eerily, as it had in the past. "Now do you see?"

His mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for water a few times. He fell backwards over his chair in his haste to leave, and began running for the door. Aya sighed and sheathed her weapons, removed her helmet, and darted swiftly to interpose herself between Gordray and the door, all in the same smooth motion. "Now do you see, Gordray?"

Gordray's eyes widened even more, if that were possible. "You...YOU were the scourge that took Thorns?"

She removed her armor and weapons again, revealing the simple clothing she was wearing before. She held her armor rolled up beneath her arm, her other arm holding her old weapons. She spoke in a soft, distant voice, sadly remembering the screams of the people as she and her army massacred them. "I was, yes. It's something I need to atone for, but the time is not yet right."

Gordray's eyebrows dropped into a glare, as he nearly spat the words at her as she walked back to the closet to put her old gear away once more. "And just how do you plan on atoning for all the lives you took? All the families you slew? All the lives you utterly ruined? All the sons and daughters whose families now remember only in eulogy? Just how do you plan on atoning for all of that, hmm?"

She turned to look at him, her face sad, though determined. "By taking back Thorns."

Gordray's jaw dropped. As he attempted to retain his composure, Morjin quietly put a hand on his shoulder, and spoke in a low voice. "She knows what she has done, Gordray. Unless my intuition is failing me, part of the price of her Exaltation into a Child of the Dawn was facing her past, and fully understanding it."

He looked at Aya for confirmation, who nodded silently. He continued. "The only people who should fear her now are those that inhabit Thorns. She has no intention or desire to harm anyone else."

Gordray looked at Aya once more, looking angry. "And you just plan on marching up to Thorns in your armor of death and decay, and slay the dead with their own weapons? Is that it?"

Aya shook her head, clenching her jaw briefly. Now, she was beginning to understand why Kale didn't like this man all that much. "Not alone, and not with that. As I said, the time is not yet right."

Gordray opened his mouth again to protest, but was silence by Morjin putting his hand on his shoulder once more. "Gordray, perhaps it would be better to wait, and see what she's planning."

Gordray took a deep breath, and nodded, somewhat sullenly. Morjin nodded to both Aya and Kale, and spoke once more. "My companion and I had better return to our rooms at the Inn, as it's beginning to get late." He paused with a smile. "Unlike you two, we worry somewhat about bandits."

Kale chuckled, and looked questioningly at Aya. She nodded, and Kale spoke. "We can walk you to Ayodha. It's not far, and we have a trip to make anyway."

Aya's eyebrows rose as she looked at him. How did he know of this temple she saw, that she seemed instinctively drawn to? He just winked roguishly at her.

Morjin nodded to both of them. "Thank you. Do you mind if we leave soon? The pub there is delightful; I haven't tasted ale so well-brewed in many years. I wish to relax with one before I rest tonight."

Kale nodded, and stood, walking over to the peg his jacket hung from. "Very well, then," he said. "Are we ready to leave?"

Morjin and Gordray nodded, though the latter darted a quick glance of dislike at Aya. She noticed, but didn't say anything.

Kale locked the door behind them. The four of them walked in silence for a while. Aya just walked with a small smile on her face, enjoying the feel of the breezes across her skin, the subtle smells of the forest, and the sounds of life being lived therein. She looked around avidly, seeing everything she could with relish. Never again would she take her sight or life for granted.

Aya noticed Kale darting curious looks at her when he thought she wasn't looking. She turned to smile reassuringly at him, which earned her a smile in return. Gordray and Morjin spoke in low tones, but were the only sounds heard from the four of them.

The walk to Ayodha was mostly uneventful, until people in dark clothing jumped out from the trees around them. "Halt, scum! All your valuables on the ground, now!"

Aya glanced at Kale quickly, who was looking at her with trepidation. Yes, the last time this happened, people had died un-necessarily. Not this time. Far too many people had died because of her.

Channeling the new, burning essence within her, she formed it into a rote she knew, lending weight and power to her voice. "Why do you attack innocent people when there are far worse things in the world?"

One of the brigands laughed in gutteral tones. "Maybe 'cos they put up a fight, and travellers don't?" His companions joined him in laughter.

Aya spoke again, strongly, her eyes flashing. The sunlight seemed attracted to her now, illuminating her long, black hair slightly. "So you are no better than the undead that even now fester within our world, and you are proud of this? You call yourselves men? Be gone from my sight. You sicken me!"

The bandit leader looked as if he were about to retort, but thought better of it. "C'mon, lads. They ain't worth it." They quickly disappeared back into the forest.

Her companions were silent for a time. Gordray spoke up first. "I am surprised to see you being unwilling to shed blood."

Aya shrugged, hiding the slowly increasing annoyance she felt at him. Kale spoke before she could. "You are? I'm not, but then again, I took the time to get to know her." He spoke in a rather casual, off-hand way, but she could tell he was feeling just as annoyed with Gordray as she was.

Gordray made a small "hmph" noise, and said nothing more.

The rest of the trip was uneventful, though filled with little glances that Kale shared with her as they walked. She had missed him, though she didn't acknowledge it until recently. Comparing what she remembered of him as a boy, and him now...oh yes, he had grown into a fine man. His sense of humor was more or less the same, which was both amusing and reassuring.

The way both of Kale's parents had died had changed him, though. He was more quiet, and more somber now. Kale was still ready with a good witty joke, but she still saw a shadow pass over his eyes when something reminded him of his parents. His comment of "She's all I have left" made much more sense, now that she thought things through. He was right, in more ways than he knew - he was the last thing she had left as well. She smiled softly to herself. Yes, she loved him for it, and wasn't going to leave him. Not in this lifetime, and not the next lifetime either, if she had anything to say about it.

However, her feelings for Kale would wait for now. She had more pressing matters to attend to, especially as she thought back on the last years of her life. She closed her eyes and shook her head slightly at the many sights of people pleading with her to spare their lives, and the cold certainty she felt at the time as she took their lives.

How many had it been? She tried counting the number of people she'd slain, but stopped with a sinking feeling as she realized that she had lost count after only a few months of her Exaltation as an Abyssal. With a sinking feeling, she knew that their cries for mercy and the sounds they made as they died, the looks of horror, of terror on their faces would haunt her for the rest of her life. Her jaw tightened. Yes, this was the price she had to pay for taking the first step on the road to her own redemption. Seeing them and hearing their screams would be the price she would have to pay.

She looked up at the path, not really looking at her surroundings. The worst crime she had committed was the utter annihilation of all life within Thorns. Her jaw tightened again. She couldn't bring the people she had slain back to life, but she could try to atone for what she had done. Protecting people, instead of slaying them, to start with.

The mindset she had when she was an Abyssal general for the Mask of Winters was a seductive trap. Giving up all responsibility or remorse for what she did, justifying to herself that it wasn't her that was doing these terrible things. Her lord had given her a command that must be obeyed; she was merely acting as the tool that carried those commands to fruition. But now...now she had no illusions to hide her own remorse behind. She must take full responsibility for everything she had ever done, and would ever do.

She took a deep breath, her eyes narrowing as she did so. She didn't know how yet, or when, but the fallen city of Thorns nagged at her. It seemingly called to her thoughts, seeming to become a symbol of her old way of thinking, her old life as a mindless taker of lives. Scouring that city clean of all the undead that lived there would be a good first step.

Aya returned her attention back to her surroundings as she realized they were nearly at the gates of Ayodha. The guards called out in a much more wary tone than before. "Halt! State your business in Ayodha!"

Morjin stepped forward slightly, his hands in his sleeves, clasped together humbly. "My name is Morjin, and I am a travelling healer. My companion, Gordray is a wandering priest, and we've been staying here for the past few days."

One of the guards inclined his head at Kale and Aya, standing together to the side. "And who're they?"

Kale called back, with a grin. "Gabrin, you old blind fraud, it's me, Kale!"

The guard laughed. "Sorry about that Kale, but we've been seeing a lot of strange things lately. Doesn't hurt to be careful. So, you returning to our fair city with your 'friend,' huh?" He winked roguishly at Kale, glancing with a leer at Aya, who looked amused at the attention.

Aya spoke up with a smile before Kale could even inhale for breath. "Yes, he's a very good friend. He even makes me tea, feeds me, and bathes me. I think I'll keep him around for a while."

Kale glanced sharply at her, surprised and amused. She patted his hand with mock-pity. "You forgot to file my nails and brush my hair, but I'll forgive you for now. You're still learning your place."

The guards laughter echoed around them at this. "Yee-hah! About time someone showed that old rascal his place!"

Kale smirked at Gabrin, noticing Morjin's amused glance, and Gordray's impatient one. "Yeah, she should be feeding and carrying and taking care of me, but I lost a bet."

Aya raised both eyebrows as she smirked at him. "Double or nothing?"

Kale grinned back. "You're on, wench!"

The four of them began walking through the gates, and into the town. Aya noticed Kale was looking around just as interestedly as she was, as there hadn't been so much of an Immaculate presence before.

Morjin turned to look at them. "Thank you for escorting us here."

Aya nodded, but Kale spoke up before she could. "It was no trouble at all. We came here to see an old friend of my family before departing anyway."

Morjin nodded and smiled before walking toward the Inn, followed by a serious-faced Gordray.

Kale's hand sought Aya's, who clasped his hand in hers with a squeeze. Words not being necessary, they walked together to the tavern. Kale turned to her with a grin. "You're more fun than you were the last time you were here."

Aya smiled at him, thankful that he was being jovial enough to help get her mind off her previous morbid thoughts. His willingness to hold her hand was strange at first, but she was quickly growing used to the contact. It was comforting, and calming.

Kale was still chuckling at that as they walked into the dimmer light of the tavern, looking for Drannid. Aya spied him first, nudging Kale gently as she began walking toward the table where he sat, smoking his pipe while enjoying his tankard.

"Hi, Drannid. Mind if we sit down?" Kale asked.

Drannid looked up with surprise, his craggy face breaking into a grin. "Aye, lad! Ye and yer lass are maere than welcome at mah table, ye know that."

Aya and Kale seated themselves, Drannid looking at the two of them interestedly. "Och, this might be mah eyesight goin' bad, but somethin's seems different about ye, lass."

Aya smiled brightly at him, and nodded. "I had the chance to take a long, hard look at my past, and make a choice." She smiled at Kale, and squeezed his hand underneath the table.

Drannid leaned back in his chair, chuckling roughly. "Ah'm guessin' Kale here had somethin' tae do with it?"

Kale smirked, but said nothing. Aya gave him a mock-glare, before smiling back at Kale first, then Drannid. "As a matter of fact, he was a big reason. Not to give you a swelled head Kale, but it's true."

Kale leaned back in his chair, grinning, with his hands behind his head. "Yep, I'm just good."

Aya raised an eyebrow, and poked him on the spot on his ribs that she remembered was quite ticklish, from when they were children. She wasn't disappointed now, as he almost jumped out of his chair, holding his side while he looked at Aya with his mouth hanging open. "Okay now, how did you know about that?"

She grinned at him, with half-lidded eyes. "I'm just good."

Drannid laughed loudly, pounding the tough oaken table as he did so. "Hahaha, Och Kale, ye found yeself a live one, and no mistake!"

Kale mock-glared at Aya, who grinned back at him unabashedly. He turned his gaze back to Drannid. "Can I get you a drink, Drannid?"

Drannid pushed his tankard closer. "Aye, ye can pu' a drop there, lad."

Kale signalled the bartender, who poured the frothing brew into Drannid's tankard with an expert flourish, pocketing the jade pieces Kale gave him in thanks. Drannid raised his tankard to Kale in thanks and took a sip, smacking his lips contentedly afterward. "Good brew, this. Ah never tire o' it."

Kale smiled, and leaned forward in his chair. "I'm sorry we can't stay longer, Drannid, but we have a long walk ahead of us."

Drannid nodded at the two of them, as they stood simultaneously. "Heh, brief though it was, Ah'd right glad tae see ye both again. Drop by again, ye ken?"
Both nodded to him, smiling as they left. Kale spoke for both of them, as Aya shot him an amused glance. This habit they seemed to be getting into, of saying what the other was thinking was...taking some getting used to. "We will, don't worry. Take care, and good health to you until we do."

Drannid raised his tankard to them with a craggy grin as a salute, and took a deep gulp as they left.

They walked in silence for a time; not touching, but not far apart, either. Aya was walking where her instincts told her to go, knowing it was leading to the temple she had seen in her dream before she had awoken as a Solar.

As night fell, they didn't slow their pace, but didn't hurry, either. They walked together in silence, just listening to the night-time sounds, hearing the crickets sing their rasping song, and birds sleepingly chirping. She was losing herself in thought once more, the many screams and moans of pain she'd heard coming back to her in a disturbing symphony of morbidity. She shook off the thoughts for now, returning her attention to their journey to this temple her Essence had shown her right before she Exalted.

As the grass and trees began to give way to desert, Kale was looking more and more amused. Aya didn't say anything at first, but as they were fully walking through the desert, she finally couldn't hold in her question any longer. "What?" she asked him.

He shook his head with a smile on his face. "Nothing."

Aya glared at him, but he just grinned back at her unrepentantly. She sighed in mock-disgust, and poked him in the ribs. Hearing him snort and jump as she did was worth the price of not knowing what was on his mind. Well, almost. He looked at her, laughing as he raised his hands. "Pax, madam! I'll tell you after we visit your temple, I promise."

She shot him a mock-glare, though couldn't hide her smile. "You'd better, if you know what's good for you."

Kale wrapped his arms around her, holding her in place as he held her close to him. She sighed, and rested her head on his shoulder. "You're good for me," he said quietly.

Aya relaxed in his embrace, leaning her head on his shoulder again. "I hope so," she said softly.

Kale's voice sounded questioning, with a hint of worry. "What's on your mind?"

She raised her head to look at him in the eyes, her face grave. "Do you know how many lives I've taken in the past eight years, Kale?"

His eyebrows raised in question as he answered. "No, but I have a good guess. You're feeling haunted by them, aren't you?"

Aya's eyebrows raised in response, surprised by his answer. "How did you know that?"

He hugged her a little more tightly as he answered. "The few times my father talked about his life in the Immaculate military, he said the nightmares he had about battle and killing took quite a while to really stop. He said he felt so guilty for what he'd done, that living a live of peace and solitude with his wife was what slowed the nightmares, eventually making them go away completely."

Aya left her head on his shoulder, feeling grateful for his embrace and kindness. She took a slow, deep breath before she answered. "After I Exalted again, the first few thoughts I had after I found that my wounds had been healed were about the screams of the people that had died by my hand. I know they're going to haunt me for a very long time."

Kale was silent, just holding her, comforting her by his touch and presence. Aya's eyes closed as she relaxed a bit more, the only sounds around them being the songs of the crickets. She opened her eyes as she continued. "I need to atone for what I've done, Kale. I've killed so many people I can't even count them all. As detestable as Gordray was, he was right - I've ruined many, many lives, deprived parents of sons and daughters, slain husbands and wives and children..."

She trailed off, her eyes filling with tears as her voice began to break. "By all that's holy and pure in this world, Kale, I've killed children!"

He didn't say anything, but began to slowly and gently run his fingers through her hair as she began crying with great, shuddering sobs. It seemed as if all the pain she'd caused others was adding to all the memories of her being tortured, of being hurt, of the vicious cycle this created.

She realized that she was probably staining his shirt with her tears, which made her feel guilty as she began pulling away. with a sniffle. "I'm sorry, I don't want to stain your shirt."

He chuckled quietly, as he pulled her back into his arms once more, gently pushing her head back onto his shoulder. His voice was soft, his words succinct. "Shirts can be washed. Feelings aren't quite so simple."

Aya felt the tears come once more. She tried to fight them, but just let them come as she keened on his shoulder. She didn't know how long she cried, but it felt like years.

Her tears began to dry, as she hiccupped slightly. She clung to Kale as if he were the only thing keeping her afloat in a drowning ocean of tears. "I don't know if I can ever make up for what I've done. I don't even know why my Essence Exalted me again, knowing what terrible things I've done."

Aya felt her gently kiss her on the top of her head before replying. "I think it was because he knew you were capable of remorse, and knew that you'd try to make up for it. Unless you've changed more than I know, you won't feel as if you can rest until you do."

She hugged him tightly at this. "You're a wonderful man, Kale. I don't know what I did to deserve you."

Aya felt him chuckle softly as he held her. "It was seeing you naked."

She couldn't help it, but she laughed. It felt like an equal release after all the tears she had just shed, to laugh about something so utterly silly. She looked up at him, the image of him looking blurry and indistinct through the tears still in her eyes. She leaned up and kissed him softly on the cheek once more before smiling up at him. He gently dabbed her tears away with his shirt, smiling gently at her as he did. "Come on, we can talk more once we get back from your temple."

She pulled away from him, suddenly suspicious. "Okay, you were laughing to yourself about where we were going at first, and now you said where we were going even though I hadn't told you. How did you know?"

He smiled roguishly at her. "For one thing, my Essence's temple is in the same area, and she encouraged me to go to her temple almost right after I Exalted. I figured from the direction you were going that you had felt drawn to it as well."

Aya's smile grew slowly, as she shook her head. "Come on then, Mr. Smartass."

They began walking again in silence, though they held hands this time. They began to see large rocks in the sands, and Aya began to slow down, looking for the landmarks she had seen in the brief vision.

She found the large rock at last, and smiled in satisfaction. She pressed her hand into the rough hand-shaped indentation in the rock, and immediately the ground began to shake heavily.

Both of them beheld a large building rising from the sands with a low, loud rumble with amazement, Aya with fascination as well.

There was a set of stairs leading up to a door, guarded by two statues on either side of it. They began cautiously walking up the stairs, when blue light flared behind the masks of the statues where eyes should have been. They extended their weapons, and crossed them in front of the door. With unearthly voices, they spoke in unison, in perfect sync. The one on the right had a deep, baritone male voice, the one on the left had a higher, hissing tenor, though still unmistakably male voice. "Only two may enter this place. Speak their names, and gain admittance. Fail, and die."

Aya stepped forward boldly, and called out to the statues in an authoritative tone. "The man who built this temple was named Melek, nicknamed the Mailed Fist of the Sun by those who stood against the Unconquered Sun. His wife was named Melia, nicknamed the Jade Shadow by her enemies."

The statues retracted their weapons, and the door opened with a grinding noise behind them. Again, they spoke in perfect sync. "You may enter in peace."

Aya and Kale walked cautiously through the doorway, seeing the statues stay perfectly still as they did so. Kale remarked as they walked through the doorway, "I didn't know she was nicknamed that."

Aya smirked at him. "You really should talk more with her, then." Kale nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I'd like to drop by her temple once you're done here. Good sense of direction, by the way."

She smiled, and made an elegant bow to him. "Why thank you, good sir."

Still smiling slightly at each other, they walked through the long hallway, sloping down for quite a ways, before coming to another doorway. The door slammed downwards as they neared it. They both heard the voice that echoed around them.

"Only my successor and my wife's successor are allowed to enter this place. If you are my successor, show your heritage!"

Aya nodded, and took a deep breath. To Kale's surprise, she swiftly turned sideways, slamming her right foot onto the ground with a loud "Kai!" As her foot hit the ground, her Caste Mark flared brightly on her forehead, her anima illuminating white, gold, and red around her. Within the bright light, she appeared to be a shadow, with her long, jet black tresses.

The voice was heard again, over the low roar of Aya's anima. "You are my successor. Enter." The door rose upwards into the ceiling with a grinding noise. Aya's Caste Mark and her anima faded away once again, as if they had never been.

Kale looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "Your anima is a bit brighter than it used to be."

She smiled at him. "It's something to live up to."

Kale nodded, smiling at her comfortingly. They walked together through the doorway, and both gasped softly at the sight. It was a huge circular room, brightly illuminated with a soft golden light. In evenly-spaced intervals, they saw doors blocked off by different statues, five in all.

As they reached the center of the room, they heard the same voice again. Aya wondered how Melek was able to have his voice stored like this, to react to the successor he somehow knew would come.

"My successor, you are welcome to all the knowledge and treasure you find within this place. For me to have picked you, you are assuredly a man strong of mind, body and spirit. As such, you must overcome challenges to earn my knowledge and gifts to help you on your path through life. As you walk near the statues, my voice will explain to you what each challenge entails."

Kale chuckled, as Aya raised an eyebrow about the voice calling her a man. "Don't worry about it. Melia thought her successor would be a woman."

Aya laughed, finishing with a sigh of surprise. She heard the same noise of surprise from Kale as well, as two figures slowly faded ethereally into existence in front of them. One figure was large and tall, the other short, and slender.

Both Aya and Kale gasped in shock as their features became recognizable. The one on the left, in front of Aya, was a tall, largely-built man who seemed to nearly take up half the room. He was at least six and a half feet tall, she realized. As his features seemed to fade in, she gasped again as she realized she was looking at Melek, clad in golden armor, and holding the hand of the diminutive woman to his left. His curly black hair was cut short in a soldier's buzzcut, with piercing blue eyes, which offset his dark, nearly ebony skin well.

Aya heard Kale's similar gasp of shock as she beheld the woman. She appeared tiny next to the giant of a man next to her. She had long, black hair and deeply tanned skin, with striking jade-green eyes. She wore a halter top and a short skirt, which made her look like a desert dancer from the South. Both of them smiled in unison.

Melek spoke first, his deep baritone voice echoing throughout the chamber, even though he wasn't speaking especially loudly. He was indeed a man of enormous presence, which befit the general he once was. Aya realized this was how he looked in life, matched by the tiny woman at his side. "We decided to speak to you together here, before we took our rest. Certain things needed to be said before we did."

Melia spoke, her voice like soprano velvet, her green eyes twinkling to match the smile on her face. "We're both very proud of you. Kale, you learned incredibly quickly, and adapted to being an Exalt faster even than I did, despite your trepidation. Seeing you now reminds me of why I picked you in the first place, though I didn't know Aya contained my husband's Essence until later on. Happy coincidence, I suppose."

Melek smiled down at his wife. "Or fate, either way. Aya, you persevered through far more than anyone had a right to, and came out of it shining like a star. You have scars, but you learned from your experiences. I'm proud to know that you're my successor. Though I didn't intend for you to get romantically involved with the person who contained my wife's Essence..."

Melia interrupted him with a grin, looking up at him mischievously. "I was hoping they would, after what I saw of the two of them, but I didn't press them."

Melek laughed, his voice booming throughout the chamber. "Always the matchmaker, aren't you? In any case," he said, turning his attention back to Kale and Aya, "My wife and I agreed that we should say our goodbyes to you personally. It was the least we could do for what you two have done."

Kale got over his shock first. "You mean to tell me you were actually trying to set Aya and I up, Melia?"

Melia's bell-like laughter echoed softly around the chamber. "Oh, not at first; I promise. Only after you saved her at the canyon did I begin hoping the threads of fate would weave as they did for Melek and I."

Aya smiled at Melek. Seeing him now, as he once was, and not a nameless voice was gratifying. She was able to finally see the man she had deeply despised at first, and lately was deeply thankful to. "Were you serious when you said you would have picked me anyway, Melek? I noticed that your voice in the chamber earlier assumed your successor would be a man."

Melek chuckled heartily. "Forgive me, I assumed. For quite a few lifetimes, this Essence was carried by men, as men seemed to be most often the kinds who fought wars, and led campaigns."

Melia smiled mischievously again. "Don't worry about it too much. I think Kale would look quite fetching as a woman."

Kale glared at her, which made her break into a fresh fit of bell-like laughter. "I jest, I do. In all seriousness, I don't regret picking you in the least, Kale. You're the most noble and capable Night Caste to hold this Essence for a very long time. In time, you'll be even better than I was."

Melia's face looked serious, but Melek spoke before she could. "What we both hope, Kale and Aya, is that you don't have to face what we did. If worst comes to worst and you do, then I hope that you have more determination and willpower than I did, Aya."

Looking up at Melek, Melia smiled tolerantly. "You big lout, you're too hard on yourself. I knew that you would see the light eventually, and you have. There's nothing to forgive, so stop being so hard on yourself."

Melek smiled somewhat grimly down at his wife. "Perhaps. But it will take me longer to forgive myself."

Aya shook her head, smiling. "You're forgetting, Melek, that even though you did, good things happened because of it. I might have met Kale again, but I doubt we'd feel as strongly for one another if you hadn't fallen, and I hadn't have become an Abyssal first."

She looked downcast. "I have much to atone for, Melek. I don't know if I'll ever be able to make up for all the lives I've taken."

Melek nodded at her, smiling. "I came back because I knew you could atone for it. Remember Aya, I've been inside your head for the past eight years. You have a core of steel within you, but one with a conscience. You've buried your conscience for many years now, but it's coming back at last, with a vengeance. You're listening to it, and understanding what it's trying to tell you. It was for this reason that I knew that I couldn't give my Essence to anyone else. I believe in you, Aya. Now, believe in yourself, your own capabilities, and your capacity to do good things. You've had many years to get out all your frustration, anger, and irritation. Now you know the consequences of doing so without restraint, and the terrible things that can be caused because of them."

Aya's eyes were beginning to tear up again, but she nodded with a smile. He was correct this time, and she was thankful that he wasn't being cryptic in his replies this time. Perhaps it was because he was ready to take his final rest now.

Squeezing Melek's hand tightly, Melia spoke up. "Though we'll miss you both, it's time for us to take our rest at last. I know that his Essence is in a good person now, and I know I speak for my husband when I say that he feels the same way."

Melek nodded, smiling warmly at Aya. "Don't doubt yourself, Aya. You have within you the makings of one of the best generals I've ever seen, better even than I was. What you've done thus far is a far cry from what you are capable of. What you do, and how you do it is up to you, but I know you'll do well."

Kale's arm snaked around Aya's waist. She smiled up at him briefly, putting her arm around his waist in return before both of them returned their attention to their Essences made manifest in front of them, beginning to fade slowly.

Smiling at Melia, Kale spoke. "Thank you, Melia. I feel honored now that I was chosen, though I wasn't at first. I wish for you a good rest, and good fortune in your next lifetime."

Melia smiled back at him, bowing. "As do I, Kale. I wish for you good journeys, and a long lifetime filled with happiness."

Aya kissed Kale on the cheek before speaking. "Melek, I despised you at first, but now I am honored to carry on your Essence. May you find the peace you deny yourself, and find it again in your next lifetime."

Melek smiled back, as he began fading from view alongside Melia. "I knew you were destined for great things, Aya. Despite my lack of choice when Exalting you the first time, I am deeply proud of you now, and I take my rest knowing my Essence will be left in very capable hands. I wish you a long life, filled with realizations and happy discoveries at the side of the one you love."

Their figures had entirely faded away now. Their voices were heard one last time.

"Goodbye, Aya. Take care of your other half." Melek's deep voice sounded...content.

"Goodbye, Kale. Take good care of her, or I'll come back and haunt you!"

The last sound they heard was Melia's fading laughter, like the tinkling of silver-tongued bells.

End Part Two. Please let me know what you think.

This one flowed a lot better, and definitely was more engaging than the first part, as I demonstrated unwittingly by reading through the whole thing in one sitting. I thought General Wotsername's acceptance of Kale was a little quick, but it did seem to flow naturally. Oh, and it was a big copout, just having him appear there after he decided to rescue her. I know, I know, it was probably done for pacing reasons, and I agree that it was for the best, but still, dang.

Anyway, part three tomorrow.

DesertFly wrote:This one flowed a lot better, and definitely was more engaging than the first part, as I demonstrated unwittingly by reading through the whole thing in one sitting. I thought General Wotsername's acceptance of Kale was a little quick, but it did seem to flow naturally.

Well, thank you - I was of the opinion that the three parts are progressively better written.

DesertFly wrote:Oh, and it was a big copout, just having him appear there after he decided to rescue her. I know, I know, it was probably done for pacing reasons, and I agree that it was for the best, but still, dang.

What do you mean by "just appear there?" If I recall the scene you're talking about right, he certainly didn't just appear in the Underworld.

rhoenix wrote:

DesertFly wrote:This one flowed a lot better, and definitely was more engaging than the first part, as I demonstrated unwittingly by reading through the whole thing in one sitting. I thought General Wotsername's acceptance of Kale was a little quick, but it did seem to flow naturally.

Well, thank you - I was of the opinion that the three parts are progressively better written.

So far that seems to be true. I certainly hope it holds for the next.

rhoenix wrote:

DesertFly wrote:Oh, and it was a big copout, just having him appear there after he decided to rescue her. I know, I know, it was probably done for pacing reasons, and I agree that it was for the best, but still, dang.

What do you mean by "just appear there?" If I recall the scene you're talking about right, he certainly didn't just appear in the Underworld.

I mean, it went from, "Oh teh noes!1! She's been kidnapped," to, "I'm gonna rescue her," to, "Ahh, the torture, it burrrnnnss!!" to, "Haha! I'm here! Pwnt, snakes!" Like I said, not the end of the world, and I can understand why you did it, but when I first read it it seemed jumpy. Going back, it's okay now.